A fired-up Black Caps bowling attack, backed up by some sharp fielding and an outstanding batting effort, comprehensively outplayed England for a 55-run win in the second Twenty20 international in Hamilton on Tuesday.
Hurting after Sunday’s 40-run loss in the first T20 in Auckland, the New Zealanders set up the win to level the series with a challenging 192-6 after England won the toss.
And although Jos Buttler saved face for England with 54 from 30 balls, he received nothing in the way of support and England were all out for 137 three balls short of 20 overs.
Rookie New Zealand pace bowler Mitchell McClenaghan set the tone with two early wickets in his first over, removing Alex Hales and Luke Wright with consecutive balls.
Jonny Bairstow survived the hat-trick ball but England looked shell-shocked at 9-2 after the second over.
New Zealand’s attack found a good length, bowling with pace and aggression and offering little in width to an explosive English batting line-up.
Ian Butler, who first represented New Zealand in 2001 and has battled injury ever since, removed Bairstow for eight and danger man Eoin Morgan for 13, finishing with impressive figures of 2-9 off four overs.
McClenaghan’s 2-24 set the tone, while James Franklin’s 4-15 cleaned up the tail as well as securing the wicket of the dangerous Buttler early in the 18th over.
Earlier, Martin Guptill and Hamish Rutherford gave the Black Caps an excellent start. They belted out 75 for the first wicket before Luke Wright caught an outside edge as Rutherford looked to run a slower delivery down to third man early in the ninth over.
Guptill continued to find the boundaries, and in tandem with captain Brendon McCullum, put on another 30 runs before he picked out Alex Hales in the deep to leave New Zealand 105-2 at the end of the 12th over.
His 47 came off 31 balls and included four fours and two sixes, leaving the Black Caps in a strong position with eight overs remaining.
They lost a little momentum mid-innings, with Ross Taylor (4), Colin Munro (7) and Grant Elliott (4) all going cheaply. But McCullum was in superb form, building his innings implacably before he was caught on the boundary for 74 on the penultimate ball of the innings.
His 38-ball knock took in six fours, and he cleared the boundary five times, including three sixes off Stuart Broad in the 19th over.
Jade Dernbach was the pick of the English attack, bowling with intelligence and variation, his well-disguised slow ball proving particularly problematic as he finished up figures of 3-38 for his four overs.
Luke Wright also bowled solidly, backing up his 2-28 from the first T20 in Auckland with 2-24.
The deciding Twenty20 match is in Wellington on Friday.