In an intriguing T20 match at Old Trafford, it was England who went home the victors due to a leading innings from Root and inspired bowling by England new boys Mark Wood and David Willey
England had decided to name an unchanged side from the one that defeated New Zealand in the ODI up at Durham on Sunday. New Zealand, however, made three changes with Colin Munro, Nathan McCullum and Mitchell McClenaghan replacing Grant Elliot, Ben Wheeler and Andrew Mathieson.
England won the toss and chose to bat on what seemed to be a batsmen friendly pitch.
New England Style Shows Again.
England continued their emphatic change to attacking cricket. Jason Roy and Alex Hales gave the innings a lightning start as England made 60 runs off the powerplay scoring at a rate of ten an over.
The attacking cricket threatened to derail England as both Bairstow and Morgan fell extremely cheaply trying to go over the top. The two in-form batsmen scored just five runs between them.
To be fair to Bairstow however, he fell to a beautiful piece of bowling from Mitchell Santner, compared to Morgan who gave his wicket away with extremely poor-shot selection. However this was rescued by the lower order with Ben Stokes, Sam Billings and Adil Rashid providing extremely useful cameos to get England to 191-7
Root Impresses Yet Again
One of the few standout innings in the England innings was Joe Root.
Once again the young Yorkshireman showed his team mates how to score aggressively without simply giving your wicket away. He scored a magnificent 68 off just 48 balls.
His innings was a mix of traditional cricket strokes and improvised scoops and sweeps.This was shown the most when Root went down to scoop Southee, Southee saw him coming and bowled it wider, yet Root managed to adjust quickly and cut Southee finely for four.
It really was a majestic innings form one of the shining lights in all forms of English cricket.
Explosive McCullum Starts New Zealand
Throught the previous ODI and Test series, Brendon McCullum has been a disappointment for New Zealand and has given Finn a reason to forget the treatment the Kiwi's gave him in the World Cup by giving him his wicket twice.
However, today it clicked for the New Zealand captain and he carted England's opening bowlers to every area of the pitch. He scored 35 off just 15 balls before being dismissed by a brilliant piece of bowling by Mark Wood that forced McCullum into dragging onto his own stumps.
Classy Williamson Delivers Again
Once again Kane Williamson was impressive for the Blackcaps. Fresh from becoming the fastest New Zealand batsman to reach 3000 ODI runs, he produced a series of typical classy cricket shots as he showed that you don't have to have mass amounts of sheer power to succeed in limited overs cricket as he once again reached a half century with a collection of deft touches and perfectly timed shots.
He was run out eventually by David Willey as he desperately tried to get on strike and ease the pressure on the lower order with the asking rate approaching ten runs per over. He managed to score a crucial 57 off 37 balls.
England Bowlers Show Their Skill
England's bowlers may have been smashed all over the park at the start of New Zealand's innings by McCullum and co. however they went on to show that when it counts they can still execute their skills to perfection.
When New Zealand were motoring with McCullum, Williamson and Ross Taylor, to an extent, scoring freely, it looked as if New Zealand would walk their way to a victory. However inspired bowling display from Wood, Willey and Stokes bowled intelligently to ensure that New Zealend fell behind the run-rate.
The attacking bowling was backed up by economical displays from Finn and Rashid, after their early over punishment. The fantastic display ensured that New Zealand fell 56 runs short and were all out within 17 overs.
Durham Duo Highlight Importance
The Durham players in the England showed how talented they are today, with Ben Stokes taking 2-24 and contributing an important 24 off 13 balls. Mark Wood also showed his skills by taking 3-26.
Wood and Stokes again showed today, that while Durham may often be a forgotten county when there is discussions about which county is the most important in terms of producing stars for the England side, they actually provide countless amount of talent. When northern stars such as Collingwood and Harmison retired, there was a notable lack of Durham talent in the England set up.
However, Stokes is finally showing his true potential and drawing comparsions with Freddie Flintoff whilst the impact of paceman Wood has given England the genuine pace bowler they lacked for such a time. Durham is clearly where England should start their Ashes campaign, not down at the SWALEC in Cardiff.