England repeat super over heroics

England have wrapped up a 3-2 series success over New Zealand after winning Sunday’s T20I decider via a super over. It was a case of deja vu for Eoin Morgan and his team as the victory came just a few months on from their memorable super over success against the same opposition at this summer’s World Cup. Heavy rain at Eden Park meant the match was reduced to 11 overs per team and New Zealand posted a competitive score of 146-5, thanks largely to a knock of 50 from opener Martin Guptill. That looked like being enough to secure the win for the Black Caps as England needed 12 runs to draw level off the final three balls of their innings, but Chris Jordan duly produced that score to force a super over. Morgan and opener Jonny Bairstow then stepped up for England, as they both struck sixes off the bowling of Tim Southee as the tourists made 17 from their additional six balls. In response, New Zealand never looked like matching that score, with Jordan restricting them to just eight runs and the paceman was even able to take the wicket of Tim Seifert. The victory sets England up nicely for the upcoming Test series between the two sides, with Morgan admitting he had not been anticipating quite so much drama from the series decider. “It’s absolutely remarkable. We didn’t expect to play much cricket today and it’s turned out to be an epic end to a series where there wasn’t much between the two sides,” Morgan told the BBC. “To win it in such fashion with a young, inexperienced side in the long term will pay huge dividends for us.”