England’s five-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand began with a relative stroll in Hagley Park as a typically stylish hand from James Vince helped set up a seven-wicket victory with nine balls to spare.
When Eoin Morgan launched his opposite number, Tim Southee, over deep mid-wicket for six, it completed a chase of 154 that rarely felt in doubt after Vince had finessed 38-ball 59 from No 3. In such a picture-postcard setting, perhaps it was fitting that England’s most aesthetically-pleasing batsmen should prove the difference.
Morgan, who handed debuts to Pat Brown, Sam Curran and Lewis Gregory, and made 34 from 21 balls, was quick to credit his bowlers after securing a 1-0 lead. Having tipped a belting pitch upon winning the toss, New Zealand’s batsmen were kept largely in check en route to 153 for five.
Under blue skies and in front of 7,000 spectators on the grass banks, the ball never quite came on to the bat unless slower deliveries from the seamers were picked or Adil Rashid, still not 100% after his shoulder injury, dropped short.
Ross Taylor top-scored with 44 from 35 balls before falling in the final over to give Brown his maiden international wicket on debut, while Daryl Mitchell, son of the England ruby team’s defence coach, John, went on the attack with a quickfire 30.
But the total always appeared light as England chipped away at regular intervals, albeit from balls that might otherwise have disappeared. Chris Jordan’s dismissals of Colin Munro and Tim Seifert both came via full tosses – the latter, for 32, adjudged to be dipping below the waist – while a Rashid half-tracker accounted for Colin de Grandhomme in the deep.
Only Curran, opening the bowling with his brother Tom, suffered any serious punishment when his third over was dispatched for 21. But amid figures of one for 33, having persuaded Martin Guptill to chop on amid a sluggish start, it was the outlier amid a solid debut for the left-armer.
Brown, entrusted with the final over and showing a strong temperament by ensuring Taylor’s late charge was snuffed out, finished with identical numbers to Sam Curran, while the older of the two Surrey siblings was the thriftiest on show by going for just 25 runs from his allocation.
Like the hosts, England rather crawled out of the starting blocks. Dawid Malan, preferred to Tom Banton at the top of the order, fell for 11 when trying to take down Mitchell Santner, the first of three victims for the left-arm spinner. But Jonny Bairstow picked things up with 35 from 28 that featured five fours and one six.
The Yorkshireman eventually fell in the 10th over to see England 68 for two, holing out off Santner. But by this stage Vince had already begun unfurling an array of glossy fours and a couple of brutal sixes en route to his maiden international half-century in the format. The end, caught in the deep with 31 still required, may have frustrated but the damage had been done.