1:25 AM IST, 20:55 Local Time: The ankle is all fine, the arm is rolling well and the ball sails over the ropes as if a broken star intercepts the view of the full moon in the night sky.
Liam Livingstone shines bright in the final ball, very much like the pale moon in the night sky. England are victorious in the first T20I and does it with seven wickets and six overs to spare.As expected, the chase transpired to be a cakewalk for the Three Lions who did it on the back of their batting prowess. Although Jonny Bairstow was removed early by the skipper Tim Southee, Will Jacks, and Dawid Malan took on the Kiwi bowlers. They stitched 57 runs together for the third wicket before Harry Brook replaced Jacks (22 off 12).
Malan and Brook glued a crucial fifty-plus runs stand that acted as the bedrock for the chase. While the southpaw acted as the grafter, Brook smashed the bowlers apart. With the passage of time, the English team were approaching towards an easy win. Although Lockie Ferguson removed Malan after the latter got to his 16th half-century in T20I cricket, the job was already done by then. Liam Livingston joined the party and finished things off in style.
The first T20I carried a lot of anticipation and excitement in the air but the fight didn't yield out to meet the expectations. It was rather a one-sided affair where the Englishmen dominated the Kiwis.
Earlier, the contest initiated with two dot balls followed by three consecutive sixes from Finn Allen against Luke Wood. The Black Caps were off to a flyer at the start but were countered by the pace trio of Sam Curran, Brydon Carse, and Wood. Wood removed Conway to draw the first blood and Carse, the debutant got the better of Allen. It was followed by a third wicket in the powerplay when an off-cutter pranked Tim Seifer to uproot the timber.
Glenn Phillips came in at no. 4 tailored 41 runs and stayed a long way in the innings. He fell short of partners as wickets kept on tumbling in regular intervals. Eventually, some great bowling effort from the home side restricted the New Zealand innings to 139.
Stay tuned for the post-match presentation ceremony.