Who needs practice? After a six‑month layoff, England’s Twenty20 team performed like the world champions they are, beating New Zealand by seven wickets. Liam Livingstone hooked a six deep into the stands to finish the match with six overs to spare: getting the band back together has never looked so easy.
Jos Buttler’s newest recruits – Brydon Carse making his T20 debut, and Luke Wood and Will Jacks playing in only their fourth and fifth white‑ball games for England respectively – all impressed and Dawid Malan and Harry Brook shared a 54-run partnership reflecting their individual styles.
Malan started slow but hit with increasing weight as England reached 100 in the 11th over. He brought up his half-century with an imperious slog‑swept six. Brook was the one there at the end, treating the crowd to the kind of spectacle they have come to expect from him, including two enormous sixes off Ish Sodhi.
Even on a low-scoring ground such as the Riverside, 139 for nine was the kind of total that suggested Tim Southee’s team would be getting back to their hotel long before the restaurant closed. Back in March the newly crowned world champions were whitewashed 3-0 in an after the Lord Mayor’s Show series against Bangladesh. Here they assembled fresh from a month of Hundred cricket: Buttler had described his players as “battle-hardened”. They ran through the New Zealand batters like heavy artillery through a light brigade.
For Carse, who wasn’t even in the original squad announced last week, a return of three for 23 on his Durham home ground was the best start he could have wished for. “If you’d asked me maybe a couple of months ago, playing international T20 cricket wasn’t on my radar,” said the 28‑year‑old, who had been touted for a possible Test call-up this summer before a side injury ruled him out. “Obviously I’ve got massive ambitions to play for England in any format.”
There were three wickets for Wood, too, in an England bowling performance as well oiled as a hipster’s beard. Half of the New Zealand team had also played in the Hundred, yet they struggled to adjust to the pace of both the pitch and the game.
For a brief moment it looked like the openers Finn Allen and Devon Conway would pick up where they had left off with Southern Brave. Allen rocketed the third ball of the match back past Wood at an angle that suggested he was aiming for the International Space Station. The next two deliveries were hooked for sixes. England, who have never met a ball they didn’t want to change, had a new one before the end of the first over.
But Wood changed ends and his second over had Conway edging behind. Carse, with a testing length from the get-go, bowled Allen off his 10th delivery, and when a Wood cutter did for Tim Seifert’s off stump New Zealand were three down before the end of the powerplay.
Glenn Phillips alone provided a measure of hope in the middle order. Eschewing flashy strokeplay for a mixture of nurdling and hard running, he had gathered 41 off 38 when he fell to a smarting catch from Sam Curran, who had to chase a drifting ball wide at long-off. Sodhi struck a six but Carse picked up two more wickets in the final over.
New Zealand needed to start strong and, thanks to their captain, they did. Buttler had dropped himself down the order to give Jacks the chance to open with Jonny Bairstow, and Bairstow hadn’t faced a ball in a white-ball game for England since last July. He faced only three from Southee here: the first he hit for four, the second slid down leg and the third, holding its line, was prodded into Daryl Mitchell’s hands at slip.
England showed a modicum of respect for a slow wicket: Jacks waited until the fourth over to launch his attack, blitzing Lockie Ferguson for three consecutive boundaries with his favourite scimitar-slice over the offside. Sixteen came from the over, and 15 from the next off Mitchell Santner. England were scoring at 10 an over and almost halfway to their target when Jacks overreached, greedy to dispatch a Sodhi long-hop.
Brook, meanwhile, continued to dispatch bowlers like so many wanton flies. “He’s been unbelievable,” said Carse, his Northern Superchargers teammate. “I’m glad I haven’t had to play against him in the last 18 months. He just seems to be hitting it all round the ground and the tempo that he’s batting at is great for him and for English cricket.”
