In Scenes Reminiscent Of World Cup Final, England Beat New Zealand In Super Over Thriller To Clinch T20I Series

In scenes reminiscent of the World Cup final four months ago, it took a super over to separate England and New Zealand in their Twenty20 series with England coming out on top in Auckland on Sunday. In the deciding fifth match, reduced to 11 overs per side because of rain, a four by Chris Jordan off the last ball of the England innings tied the scores at 146 apiece. Jonny Bairstow (eight) and Eoin Morgan (nine) posted 17 for England in the super over.

New Zealand fell nine runs short, losing one wicket for eight runs.

New Zealand's 146 was set up by Martin Guptill (50) and Colin Munro (46) with a flying start, reaching 50 in just 16 deliveries on their way to an 83-run opening stand.

England lost three early wickets before Bairstow (47) and Sam Curran (24) brought them back into the game with a 61-run partnership off 24 balls.

Earlier, the start of play was delayed two hours as sporadic showers swept across the ground.

With the prospect of further disruption, five overs per side are needed to qualify as a completed game.

England, who won the toss and elected to bowl, levelled the series 2-2 when Dawid Malan cracked the fastest Twenty20 hundred by an Englishman to set up a 76-run victory.

However, under a pre-arranged rotation, Malan has been dropped for the crucial final game with James Vince returning to the line-up.

England made two other changes with Saqib Mahmood and Adil Rashid returning in place of Pat Brown and Matt Parkinson. 

Jimmy Neesham and Scott Kuggeleijn replace Daryl Mitchell and Blair Tickner for New Zealand.

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