Malan, Morgan blast England to dominant win over Kiwis
NAPIER: A whirlwind century by Dawid Malan in a record-breaking stand with Eoin Morgan saw England crush New Zealand in the fourth Twenty20 by 76 runs in Napier on Friday to level the series with one game remaining.
Malan was unbeaten on 103 at the close of the England innings with Morgan out in the final over for 91 as England posted an imposing 241 for three and then rolled New Zealand for 165 with 19 balls remaining.
The overwhelming victory set up a winner-takes-all finale in the fifth and final game in Auckland on Sunday.
Malan’s 48-ball century was the fastest T20 hundred by an Englishman, his 182-run stand with Morgan is the highest by an England pair and the 241 total is an England record.
Morgan’s 21-ball 50 is also an England record.
“The message is always the same, play aggressively and back yourself,” Malan said.
“It’s not very often you have days like that when every time you have a hack at one it lands safe or goes for six. It’s as good as it gets.”
Between them, the two lefthanders hit 13 sixes and 16 fours with Mitchell Santner and Trent Boult the only New Zealand bowlers to escape with a run rate below 10 an over.
New Zealand started their run chase at a fast clip reaching 54 in the fifth over when Martin Guptill was dismissed for 27 and wickets fell regularly after that.
Only Tim Southee (39) and Colin Munro (30) offered any further resistance while Matt Parkinson took four for 47 for England and Chris Jordan finished with two for 24. Malan is only the second England player to score a T20 century after Alex Hales, who needed 60 balls to reach his hundred.
He advanced from 61 to 89 in a brutal attack in an Ish Sodhi over when he belted three sixes, two fours and a two, and reached his maiden century pulling Boult over the square-leg boundary for another six. It was a much-need confidence booster for England who won the first match in the series and were then well outplayed in the next two.
After losing the toss, England then lost early wickets with Santner removing Jonny Bairstow for eight and Tom Banton for 31 to have the impressive figures of two for five from his first two overs. But that changed dramatically as Morgan and Malan took charge and blasted 20 off Santner’s next over.
Of the New Zealand bowlers, Blair Tickner finished with none for 50 off his four overs, while Sodhi had none for 49 off three overs and Southee bowled his full complement to finish with one for 47.
Brief scores: England 241/3 in 20 overs (D Malan 103*, Morgan 91; New Zealand 165 all out in 16.5 overs (Parkinson 4/47)
ENGLAND RECALL BAIRSTOW
WELLINGTON: England have recalled Jonny Bairstow for their two Tests against New Zealand later this month as cover for the injured Joe Denly, a team official said Friday.
Bairstow, a 69-Test wicketkeeper-batsman who was initially omitted from the squad, is already in New Zealand with the England squad playing in the five-match Twenty20 series ahead of the Tests.
An England spokesman said the 30-year-old will now stay on in New Zealand after the final Twenty20 in Auckland on Sunday. Denly has not played since he damaged his right ankle ligaments in training two weeks ago, although he did practise in the nets on Thursday and the spokesman said they were “hoping that he will be fit to play” in the pre-Test warm-up match against a New Zealand XI at the end of next week.
England’s red-ball specialists arrived in Auckland this week and will join the rest of the squad on Monday.
The first Test starts in Tauranga on November 21.
England Test squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes