Carse, Malan star as England breeze past New Zealand

England cruised to a commanding victory in the opening T20I against New Zealand at Chester-le-Street, overpowering the Kiwis comfortably by seven wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. Pacers Luke Wood and Brydon Carse were instrumental in restricting New Zealand to a below-par total of 139/9 batting first before a half-century from Dawid Malan guided the hosts home in 14 overs with seven wickets to spare.

The T20 World Champions were put under pressure early on by Finn Allen after Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bowl. The opener cracked three sixes in the first over of the innings to signal his intent, but England pulled things back expertly after the initial charge to keep the Blackcaps in check. Sam Curran and Brydon Carse conceded just seven runs off the next two overs to tighten up the screws, while Wood enticed Conway into a loose drive away from the body to dismiss the opener for 3.

The debutant Carse troubled Finn Allen with his hard lengths and extra pace and castled the high-flying opener in the fifth over with a bit of movement off the surface. Luke Wood compiled New Zealand’s misery an over later, bamboozling Tim Seifert with a slower one to leave the visitors reeling at 38/3 to end the powerplay.

The English spinners controlled the proceedings through the middle overs, choking up the runs and picking up wickets at regular intervals to peg the Kiwis back. Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, and Adil Rashid added a scalp each to dent the Kiwi middle order before Glenn Phillips eventually departed for 41 against Wood, ending his lone struggle at the crease.

Adam Milne and Ish Sodhi cleared the ropes at the death to take New Zealand to a more respectable total, but Brydon Carse added two wickets in the final over of the innings to limit the Blackcaps to 139.

The hosts lost Jonny Bairstow to the second ball of the chase, the opener edging Southee to the slips, but were always on course for victory even without the services of Jos Buttler, who demoted himself down the order to give others a chance. After three quiet overs, Will Jacks got into his groove by cracking Lockie Ferguson for a series of boundaries before Dawid Malan took on left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner to take England to 61/1 to end the powerplay.

Jacks departed for 22 but Malan added another half-century, while Harry Brook blazed his way to 43 off 27 balls to finish the game in a hurry for England with six overs to spare.