Toss New Zealand chose to bat first against England
Tom Banton and Matt Parkinson have been handed their England debuts and the chance to impress ahead of the T20 World Cup next year.
Banton, whose cavalier stroke-making at the top of the Somerset order saw him win both the PCA and Cricket Writers’ Club young player of the year awards, will open the batting alongside Dawid Malan, with Jonny Bairstow rested.
Parkinson comes into the side for fellow legspinner Adil Rashid, whose eight overs in the series have cost 71 runs, while Tom Curran – rested for the defeat at Wellington – replaces Chris Jordan.
The pair were presented their caps by former England captain Nasser Hussain, who is in New Zealand as part of Sky’s commentary team.
For the hosts, Blair Tickner came in for Daryl Mitchell to play his second T20I.
New Zealand captain Tim Southee won his first toss of the series, choosing to bowl first. In the only previous T20I at Saxton Oval, New Zealand successfully defended 187 against West Indies, and Southee suggested the pitch was dry. “Hopefully the spinners come into play later on,” he said.
Eoin Morgan backed his side to improve after a sloppy performance at Wellington. “T20 cricket is about being positive in all facets of the game,” he said, “so hopefully we’ll show improvements with the bat and in the field today.”
New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Tim Seifert (wk), 4 Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Tim Southee (captain), 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Blair Tickner
England: 1 Tom Banton, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 James Vince, 4 Eoin Morgan (captain), 5 Sam Billings (wk), 6 Lewis Gregory, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Tom Curran, 9 Pat Brown, 10 Saqib Mahmood, 11 Matt Parkinson