Match tied (England Won in Super Over)
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Jonny Bairstow
Batter
Bowler
Phewf! If you think your Sunday is boring look no further. These two teams will never dissapoint you in shorter formats and it's been proven again. The ever-improving New England once again came out trumps, this time in a more convincing fashion and err....I would rather not (re)open New Zealand's World Cup wounds. They have been brilliant to start with, but fumbled frantically when it mattered the most. Also, not to forget the top-notch commentary banter between Ian Smith and Nasser Hussain. This is one for the ages folks. We hope you enjoyed all that you read. It's been a privilege covering this game. Until next time and a hopeful New Zealand win in a superover, this is Raju Peethala (alongside the ever-vigilant Pradeep Krishnamurthy and sharp-eyed scoring buff Praveen) drawing curtains on the coverage. Adios!!
Morgan collects the trophy and his mates join him immediately to pose for the cameras. They look completely relieved and chuffed. Quite a few moments in the game that makes you dive into the highlights reel and it could only leave you wondering with expressions like: 'Whaaaat|Heeeccck|Ooppsy|Ouucch|Wow' Okay, excuse the overcooked spellings there, but on a serious note, this game had all the perfect ingredients of a T20 game, except that it's a reduced 11-over contest and if you some of you thought this game was never gonna happen after all the rain updates early on, you've missed a spectacle (Shades of ABD, South Africa, Nathan Lyon, Lord's final, Guptill ouch moment, wide in the superover).
Eoin Morgan - Delighted, surprised that we got a game with the weather around today. We made changes to the squad and happy that the guys took their chances around. At the half-way stage, we knew we could chase down the total, needed one or two batsmen to go and have some fun. We always seem to be playing for the (Superovers). It's great fun, but it also brings in plenty of action.
Tim Southee - Great excitement for the crowd, hanging around after the rain, got their money's worth. A shortened game, players will go hard, would have been nice to get one more run, but that's the way it goes at times. Test cricket is coming up next and we are looking forward to it
Mitchell Santner is the Player of the Series for his consistent bowling
Jonny Bairstow (MoM) - It was nice to get some runs today, thought I hadn't contributed a lot in the series, a shortened game and it was good to get runs. I have played some T10 matches, so knew we needed to get some quick runs. Short straight boundaries and we wanted to target them. We don't play for those (superovers), but it'good to get over the line. Looking forward to the Test matches now.
18:30 local: The drama has ended. If you're looking to get over that World Cup final, I'd advise you to stay away from watching the highlights of this game. I'm sure at least Guptill won't. What was he doing standing at the non-striker's end on the first ball of the superover. He was New Zealand's best batsman today and got a perfect opportunity to claim revenge with short straight boundaries, but Seifert took strike and all he could manage off the first four balls of the superover was 6 legal runs, which pretty much shut doors for the home team. That said, lets not take the credit away from the man of the moment - Chris Jordan - who scored the most important 12 runs off his life and perhaps bowled the over of his life. England needed 16 off the final over (Okay, we've said that before) and Jordan's went: 6 2 4 off the last three balls to hand a thrilling tie and ultimately, the series win for England.
Ball 6: Jordan to de Grandhomme, no run, done! England win the superover, by a fine margin this time. Jordan gets his length right on this one and CDG could only force the full pitcher to the edge of the circle on the off-side. The series is now England's 3-2.
Ball 5: Jordan to Guptill, 1 run, full and wide of off-stump, Guptill uses all of his strong bottom hand power to go for a biggie, but he ends up biffing it off the cue end towards long-off. Chance of two? No, risky and they aren't taking it
de Grandomme is the new batsman
Ball 4: Jordan to Seifert, Out, Caught by Morgan. Slower fullish delivery outside off and Seifert looks to tonk it over long-off, he skews it off the thick toe-end and Morgan grabs an absolute specky at extra cover. He runs across to his left and clings onto it one-handed while balancing himself on the slide.
Ball 3: Jordan to Seifert, no run, dot. Gold dust. Seifert looks to play a funky shot and shuffles past his off-stump trying to scoop-slice it over the keeper. Fails to get bat on ball...
Ball 2: Jordan to Seifert, FOUR, low full toss outside off and Seifert has powered that over the infield on the off-side. Two fielders give chase and Curran puts in the slide near the boundary ropes, comes second and it tickles away...
Ball 2: Jordan to Seifert, wide, too full and wide of off. Just past the tramline as Seifert look to swing his way out of the crease. No dice
Ball 1: Jordan to Seifert, 2 runs, full and on leg-stump, Seifert shuffles across and flicks it to the right of fine leg
And we're done. New Zealand, not quite the 16, but need 18 to win this contest. Guptill and de Grandhomme look most certain to bat. Who's gonna be that third batter. Chris Jordan to bowl for England? Waiting to read the fun part? Ian Smith has been refusing to do commentary (on air) with Nasser Hussain. 'Not in the super over, never ever again,' he says. And Nasser responds back instantly saying: 'Ah, the barest of margins'. It's all revving up for an exciting finish folks, buckle up. It is indeed confirmed that Chris Jordan will bowl the superover for England. It's Seifert and Guptill to open for New Zealand. The former to take strike, off we go...
Ball 6: Southee to Morgan, 2 runs, low full toss has been heaved through mid-wicket and England manage two off the final ball
Ball 5: Southee to Bairstow, 1 run, full delivery on leg-stump, thumped down to long-on
Ball 4: Southee to Bairstow, SIX, stays deep inside the crease, gets under a full delivery and marmalizes it many-a-mile over long-on
Ball 3: Southee to Morgan, 1 run, full and angling into the pads, Morgan walks across and slices the slog to the left of deep square