Salt, Brook fireworks set up crushing England win

Phil Salt and Harry Brook combined to blow New Zealand out of the water in the second T20I, as England sealed a dominant 65-run win in Christchurch to take an insurmountable 1-0 lead in this three-match series.

Both Salt (85 off 56 balls) and Brook (78 off 35) were independently brutal but came together in devastating fashion with a partnership of 129 from just 69 deliveries. England's 236 for 4 was a new record T20I score at Hagley Oval, comfortably bumping off the previous best of 208 with 10 balls still to go in their innings. New Zealand were eventually dismissed for 171 with two overs to spare.

Mitchell Santner's decision to bowl first upon winning the toss was a case of rinse-and-repeat; both teams opting for the same XIs after Saturday's washout in the first T20I. Unfortunately for the Black Caps skipper, this was a truer surface than the one which saw England scrape to 153 for 6.

Drier with more pace, Santner's bowlers were up against it from the off, with all six used posting double-figure economy rates. They were not helped by two dropped catches that would have given them a more realistic target.

The one that mattered more gave Brook a life on 40, after he had successfully overturned a caught behind decision on 22. The visiting captain was at his destructive best, with 54 runs through boundaries, including five sixes, two of which were carted out of the ground. Despite Kyle Jamieson accounting for both Brook and then Salt in the space of three deliveries, Tom Banton's unbeaten 29 from 12 added the record-busting cherry on top.

Brydon Carse's twin strikes in the second over clipped the Kiwis' wings in pursuit of 237. And though Tim Seiffert and Mark Chapman restarted the chase with an engaging stand of 69, their respective demises to the spin duo of Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson all but confirmed the result.

Santner did his utmost to inject some late jeopardy with a breezy 36 off 15, before falling to Rashid's final delivery, the legspinner finishing a solid evening's work with 4 for 32. Luke Wood then had the honour of capping off victory in the 18th over with two dismissals in four deliveries, with New Zealand losing all 10 wickets to catches.

This new iteration of Salt is developing a knack of cashing in after missing out. His career-best 141 not out against South Africa in September came two days after a first-ball duck. And with as many days since 3 off 4 in the first T20I at Hagley Oval, he looked on course for a fifth century in the format.

No doubt Salt will feel he missed out in a different way, falling for 85 when he was caught on the long-off sponge, 15 short of three figures with as many balls of the innings remaining. Nevertheless, he once again spearheaded a record total a month after leading the breaching of 300.

He upheld his first-over responsibility by putting Matt Henry's second ball on to the grass bank at midwicket, then whipping behind square leg along the floor once Henry had corrected. By the time Jos Buttler faced his second ball, Salt had already struck 20 from nine.

That was as dominant as Salt was in his stands. Once Buttler was dismissed for 4, he adopted a secondary role during his work with Bethell (scoring 19 of their 44 together) and Brook (46 of their 129). Hardly a passenger but more than happy to cede the driving.

Perhaps the best example of his continued intent was his dismissal, attempting a second six (and 13th boundary) two balls after Brook had holed out at deep midwicket. He now has more T20I runs than Jason Roy, despite 22 fewer innings, moving up to sixth for England run-scorers in the format, with a strike rate of 168.12 that is at least 16 ahead of any of those in the top 10.

"We've got such a strong batting line-up, we can keep going," Brook said after a second coin toss of the series had gone against him on this tour. The response came after the England captain seemed nonplussed with being asked to set a total.

And how. Arriving in the eighth over, Brook, a straight-talker, got straight down to business. He raced to 19 off six, courtesy of three successive boundaries off Santner, with two sixes - the first into the crowd, the second over the roof at midwicket - sandwiching a craftily ramped four.

A second six beyond the confines of this boutique ground allowed him to knock two singles for a 22-ball half-century - his fifth overall in T20Is and first as captain.

He celebrated with 21 off the returning Kyle Jamieson in the following over. Earlier, he had provided 14 of the 20 picked off from Jimmy Neesham's one-and-only over.

Both were examples of constantly putting bowlers under pressure, already a well-worn mantra in his six months at the helm. That knack of leading by example is not only why he was handed the keys to the white-ball job but instilled as Test vice-captain ahead of this winter's Ashes.

That both teams opted for two spinners owed more to trending towards 2026's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. While New Zealand's returned 1 for 77 from seven overs, England's bagged 6 for 70 in eight.

The fact both wanted to bowl first showed there was a collective misreading of conditions. And as the lights took over for the second half, the pitch did begin to grip. It was, in more ways than one, a great toss to lose.

There is not much more to be said of Rashid, his status as one of England's most-valuable white-ball cricketers set in stone long before becoming the first visiting bowler to take four or more in a T20I at this venue. But it was Dawson who laid down his credentials to partner the leggie for next year's global tournament.

The left-arm spinner's wiliness was on show in his first three overs, manipulating his angles to remove Mark Chapman and then the dangerous Michael Bracewell. It took until Dawson's 16th delivery for New Zealand to find a boundary off him - Jimmy Neesham smearing a four to midwicket - and even then, heading into his final over, the Hampshire allrounder had an impressive 2 for 15 by his name.

Twenty-three conceded off a scatty fourth messed up those figures. Two sixes from Santner were responsible the untidy finish, triggering five wides as Dawson bunged a full toss down the leg side in an attempt to hide the ball from the home skipper's arc. Nevertheless, Santner's 0 for 41 earlier in the piece highlighted just how impressive England's own southpaw twirler had been.

For all England's enterprise with the bat, there was unnecessary generosity from their hosts. You do not usually associate slack fielding with New Zealand, but two drops tilted this match against them significantly in Christchurch.

Tim Seifert was responsible for missing the first and tougher chance. Jacob Duffy, having pulled out of the previous delivery as Jacob Bethell gave himself room to the leg side, dug one in short with a bit of cut. Bethell, on 7, went for his pull shot, only to top-edge high towards short third.

Seifert had tracked it well, but was done by the stiff north-west breeze, ending up on his back, palming the ball just before he hit the deck. Though Bethell "only" managed 17 more before being dismissed with the last ball of the sixth over, his back-to-back sixes off Bracewell lifted England's powerplay score to 68 for 2.

That it was the highest at this ground was a sign of things to come, but that, too, could have been avoided. At the start of the 13th over, Matt Henry returned and was greeted with a lofted straight heave from Brook. Somehow, Neesham, having just bowled an over that cost 20, botched a straightforward catch at long-on allowing Brook a life.

They did not have to count the cost of dropping Sam Curran twice on Saturday, the allrounder's 49 not out hustling England to a respectable total of 153 before the rain intervened. Here, the price of the combined errors was 55 - a figure New Zealand only made up for in their innings with the final ball of the powerplay.