New Zealand overpower England in 2nd T20I at Hamilton

Brendon McCullum finally showed his magic with the bat, and single-handedly took New Zealand to a comprehensive victory over England in the second Twenty20 International at Hamilton on Tuesday, February 12^th.

It was truly not the day for English bowlers. Captain Stuart Broad was hammered by the Kiwis, as he gave away 53 runs in four overs. The rest of the attack was also terrible, except slow-ball specialist Jade Dernbach, who claimed three wickets for 38 in
four overs. Steven Finn was relatively less expensive, but failed to bag any wicket.

On the other hand, Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum enjoyed golden moments at the crease. Martin Guptill and Hamish Rutherford provided the side a great start, putting together 75 runs for the first wicket stand.

After Rutherford’s departure in the ninth over, McCullum came out at the crease, and stated beating the English bowlers without any delay. With the help of five mega sixes and six boundaries, he clattered 74 off 38 balls.

Apart from the top-three batsmen, only Extras crossed the double figures. In 20 overs, the Black Caps managed to pile up 192 runs.

In reply, it was never easy for the Poms. Wickets continued to fall down at regular intervals, and finally the entire side collapsed on 137. Jos Butler played a blinder later in the innings, scoring 54 off 30 balls. But his effort was not enough. An easy
55-run victory was bagged by the Kiwis.

Showing delight, McCullum stated: "It was disappointing the other night. Tonight we set it up well at the top of the order and we were much better overall. We would have batted first, it can skid on under lights and you chase pretty much anything. It was
nice to make a contribution, whether you’re captain or not captain.”

“We’re very happy with that performance, heading into the third game. It was great to see those guys [Rutherford and McClenaghan] come in and play the roles that they were picked to play. Both Hamish and Mitchell are aggressive and that proved successful
for us. We knew we were short the other day so happy to bounce back."

Losing skipper shared: "We didn’t play well, credit to NZ they played fantastically. We didn’t execute our skills, McCullum did the damage but that’s only half the game. Yeah, it was the wrong decision, that’s how it goes but New Zealand outperformed us.”

“Jos played really well again it’s just unfortunate we didn’t keep wickets in hand for him. It’ll be an exciting game [in Wellington], both sides going hell for leather to win. We’ll look at what we did badly and what we did well and try and move on."

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Feb 12 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry