England's demolition of New Zealand in two Twenty20 games in the space of three days have shown both teams in a new light.

New Zealand's domination of Bangladesh earlier in the summer was something of an anomaly, and regular service has resumed, the batsmen in particular failing miserably. By contrast England showed their class and character, rebuilding their innings when it was teetering and then keeping the New Zealand batsmen under immense pressure.

The Black Caps went into the second game without all-rounder Jacob Oram due to a hamstring injury and left out Jeetan Patel after he gave up four consecutive sixes to Dmitri Mascarenhas in Auckland. England decided against changing a winning formula, selecting the same 11 who won by 32 runs in Auckland two days ago. 

'The New Zealand reply suffered the double whammy of starting too slowly and losing early wickets'


Openers Luke Wright and Phil Mustard got England off to a flying start, at one stage taking 22 runs off one Paul Hitchcock over. Going along at 12 runs per over after five overs, a big score was on the cards but England found themselves slowed down by a spirited fightback from the Black Caps.

In the space of three overs New Zealand picked up four wickets for just 11 runs, newcomer Tim Southee dismissing danger men Mustard and Kevin Pietersen in his first two overs. Some poor fielding but even worse running proved to be the undoing of Ian Bell who was run out for one, after trying to steal a run when Ross Taylor mis-fielded at mid-off.

It was up to captain Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah to steady the ship, a job they did superbly, putting on 102 from just 61 balls before they fell in consecutive balls to Hitchcock. Mascarenhas and Graeme Swann then played excellent cameos, taking 15 off the last seven balls.

The New Zealand reply suffered the double whammy of starting too slowly and losing early wickets, being reduced to 19-2 after four overs. The England new ball bowlers, James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom, bowled quickly and accurately, forcing the Black Caps batsmen to resort to some wild swings.

Ross Taylor put up some resistance, smashing 21 off just 10 balls but wickets fell at regular intervals and the required run rate continued to climb. New Zealand's highest partnership was just 30 and the highest score came from Jamie How with 31, neither anywhere near enough to chase down England's mammoth total.

England take the two match Twenty20 series by 2-0 and will take a great deal of momentum into the ODI series which begins in Wellington on Saturday. The New Zealand batsmen will need to improve their game a great deal if they are to come close to England throughout the rest of this series.

Good result for England - how will the Black Caps respond in the ODIs? Post a comment below or submit an article to Sportingo.