New Zealand 4-201 (Brendon McCullum 68, Hamish Rutherford 62, Ross Taylor 32*, Luke Wright 2-31) beat England 5-196 (Luke Wright 52, Alex Hales 39, Ravi Bopara 30*, Ronnie Hira 1-34) by five runs.
Brendon McCullum led the Black Caps from the front and Hamish Rutherford assisted him well as the visitors won the first Twenty20 against England in London.
The Kiwis hammered 201 runs with six wickets in hand at the end of the allocated 20 overs and England managed 5-196 in the required quota of overs.
Hamish Rutherford (New Zealand) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his attacking knock of 62 from 35 balls while opening the innings.
The first Twenty20 of the two match series was played on Tuesday, June 25, 2012, at Kennington Oval, London.
Earlier, Eoin Morgan, the captain of England, won the toss and offered the batting to New Zealand. James Franklin was caught behind by James Buttler off Boyd Rankin for just one run as the skipper of the Kiwis, Brendon McCullum, joined in with Hamish Rutherford. The batsmen scored 24 runs in the next eight balls with 1 six and 4 fours and Rutherford hit a couple of fours in the third over. McCullum got his first six in the fifth over as Rutherford added 2 more sixes in the 8th one. Hamish Rutherford dispatched his maiden T20 fifty in the 10th over and was caught by Alex Hales at long-off at the bowling of Luke Wright for 62 off 35 mere balls with 4 huge sixes and 6 fours.
The second wicket fell at 115 in 11.5 overs as Ross Taylor walked in the center and Brendon McCullum marshalled to his 11th T20 half century on the last delivery of the same over. The latter got another 15 runs in the 15th over with 1 six and 2 fours as Taylor secured his end while adding few runs. Brendon McCullum was clean bowled by Wright for 68 off 48 with 2 lofty sixes and 7 fours. Ross Taylor remained unbeaten for 32 off 19 balls with 1 six and 2 fours whereas the Black Caps piled up 201 for the loss just four wickets after the end of the 20th over.
Michael Lumb along with Alex Hales started off nicely by scoring 39 runs from the first 18 balls with 2 sixes and 4 fours. The openers contributed 50 in 3.4 overs when the stumps of Lumb were broken by Nathan McCullum for 29 off just 15 with 2 smart sixes and 3 fours. Luke Wright got together with Hales and they kept the score board running with regular boundaries. Alex Hales got a chance at 31 when the Kiwis wicket keeper Tom Latham missed his stumping on the bowling of Ronnie Hira. Wright hit two back to back fours in the 10th over and the score went past the hundred runs mark in the same over. Hales was caught by James Franklin at deep midwicket off Hira for 39 from 29 balls with 1 six and 5 fours.
Luke Wright completed his fourth T20 fifty in the 14th over while Eoin Morgan got out cheaply for just seven runs. Wright was gone next for 52 off 34 deliveries comprising 1 six and 6 fours when Ravi Bopara and Joss Buttler associated next in the park. The score was enhanced to 184 after 18.4 overs when Buttler ran himself out for 17 and was replaced by Ben Stokes. England required 16 runs from the last six balls as Stokes hit a six on the first ball of the final over. Ravi Bopara scored 30 off 18 with 1 six and 2 fours as the home side reached 196 for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.
Mitchell McClenaghan, Ian Buttler, Nathan McCullum and Ronnie Hira shared one wicket each.
New Zealand won the first T20 by a narrow margin of five runs and leads the two match series 1-0. The second and final T20 of the series will be held at the same venue on June 27, 2012.
Leave a Reply