Resounding fifties from the duo of Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook, followed by a fiery four-wicket haul from the debutant Gus Atkinson helped England beat New Zealand by a massive margin of 95 runs in the second T20I, at the Old-Trafford, in Manchester.
Speaking about the game, the coin fell in the favour of the host, as they opted to bat first. England got off to a great start as the openers toyed with the potent bowling attack scoring 40 runs in 5.3 overs. Thereafter, skipper Tim Southee drew the first blood for New Zealand as Will Jacks was dismissed for 19 at the close of powerplay, while Mitchell Santner cleaned up Dawid Malan for a duck in the next over.
Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow kept the setting going with a sensational 131-run sand for the third wicket. Both the batters got off to their respective fifties in the course of the partnership. Harry Brook amassed 67 off 36 before getting dismissed while Jonny Bairstow remained unbeaten on 86 and Jos Buttler at the end played 13 runs cameo off 8 balls to help England post a mammoth total of 198/4 in 20 overs. For New Zealand, Ish Sodhi picked up two wickets for 44 runs in four overs.
Chasing 199, New Zealand openers did not live up to the expectations as the debutant, Gus Atkinson, picked his first international wicket by packing Devon Conway for 2, while Sam Curran dismissed Finn Allen a couple of balls later for 3 runs. Tim Seifert and Glenn Philips kept the chase going with a 36-run-stand but Adil Rashid broke the good going partnership by picking Philips for 22, while Mark Chapman got dismissed for 15 after hitting a couple of boundaries against Liam Livingstone.
Gus Atkinson then ran through the lower order with a lethal bowling display to help England beat New Zealand by a big margin of 95 runs. Tim Seifert was the top-scorer for the Blackcaps his 31-ball-39 run knock. Consequently, England went 2-0 up in the four-match series.
Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and Numbers from the second T20I between England and New Zealand:
98 -Adil Rashid now has 98 wickets in T20Is, the most by an England bowler in T20 Internationals surpassing Chris Jordan’s tally of 96 wickets.
198/4 -England posted a total of 198/4 in the second T20I against New Zealand, this is the second-highest total in T20Is played in Manchester. England themselves hold the record for the highest total of 199/5 against Pakistan, in Manchester, in 2020.
86– Jonny Bairstow scored an unbeaten 86, this is the joint-second highest score by a batter in T20Is in Manchester, he shares this with Mohammad Hafeez. KL Rahul tops the list with 101* against England in 2018.
9 -Jonny Bairstow now has 9 fifty-plus scores for England in T20Is.
Most 50+ scores for England in T20I
21 -Jos Buttler
17 -Dawid Malan
14 -Eoin Morgan
13 -Alex Hales
9 -Jonny Bairstow
8 -Jason Roy
2 -Gus Atkinson became the only second England bowler alongside Jon Lewis to pick a four-fer on T20I debut.
100 -Ish Sodhi appeared in his 100th ODI match.
131 -Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow put together a 131-run stand for the third wicket, this is the second-highest third-wicket partnership for England against New Zealand in T20Is. The highest partnership of 182 between Dawid Malan and Eoin Morgan, came in 2019 in Napier.
100 -Liam Livingstone completed 100 wickets in T20s
95 -New Zealand lost the game by 95 runs, the third-biggest margin of defeat for New Zealand in T20Is. Their biggest defeat by 168 runs came against India in Ahmedabad in 2023, while the second biggest of 103 runs came against Pakistan at Christchurch, in New Zealand, back in 2010.
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