Harry Brook, captain of England, lit up Colombo when he smacked a six that not only cleared square leg, but also struck the giant stadium screen at the R Premadasa Stadium, with a Yorker by Matt Henry.
England lost some of their initial wickets in pursuit of 160 to which New Zealand had already scored 159 of 7. Henry ousted Phil Salt in the first over and Lockie Ferguson returned Jos Buttler back to the pavilion without a duck as England dropped to 2-2.
But there came a time in the third over. Aiming at the blockhole, Henry threw a complete ball on the stumps. Brook shuffled, sank on one knee, and gave a tremendous scoop over square leg. It was so perfectly clean that the ball broke into the replay LED screen. It was Brook who, with a blow on the body in the attempt to make a ramp, had been defeated earlier in the over, but nothing could stop him.
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There were three fours and that tremendous six that Harry Brook had in his 26 off 24 balls. but when he was about to bring the chase to a halt, Glenn Phillips outwitted him. Attempting to strike on the turn Brook opened out to Daryl Mitchell in the eighth over at long-off leaving England at 50 for 3.
In the past, the innings of New Zealand had been anchored on sound contributions. Tim Seifert (35 off 25) and Finn Allen (29 off 19) steered the Black Caps to a 54 off without loss in the powerplay. Things were reversed by the spin trio of Adil Rashid, Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed during the middle overs. Rashid carried off Seifert and Mark Chapman and Jacks replaced Allen and later bowled Phillips, whose 39 off 28 had set the innings right. Rehan also contributed two wickets which left New Zealand with what appeared to be a par total on a turning surface.
As a reply, England restored itself following the dismissal of Brook by Jacob Bethell and Tom Banton. The triple strike by Rachlin Ravindra to eliminate Bethell, Banton and Sam Curran put the game back to the New Zealand side. But Will Jacks kept England alive with Rehan Ahmed. With 139 to go after 18 overs, England required 21 to go after the remaining 12 balls with the rate increasing to 10.50.
