Napier T20I: Dawid Malan guides England to 76-run win over New Zealand

England registered a comfortable 76 runs victory over New Zealand in the fourth T20I match here at the McLean Park on Friday.

Batsman David Malan amassed the fastest century for England in the shortest format. He played an unbeaten knock of 103 runs off 51 balls and was awarded as the Player of the Match.

Skipper Eoin Morgan scored the fastest fifty for England in the T20I format. Morgan scored his 50th run on his 21st ball and he surpassed wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler to break the record. Buttler had scored 50 off 22 balls against Australia at Birmingham in 2018.

Chasing 242, New Zealand had a decent start as their openers built a stand of 54 runs for the first wicket. Martin Guptill was picked by Tom Curran in the fifth over. Guptill scored 27 runs off 14 balls.

Tim Seifert (3) joined Colin Munro in the middle but the former failed to leave his mark as he was dismissed by Chris Jordan in the sixth over.

Colin de Grandhomme (7) too failed to leave his mark on the scoreboard as was caught by Tom Banton on Matt Parkinson's delivery. Munro after scoring 30 runs was sent back to the pavilion by Parkinson in the seventh over.

Kiwis lost two quick wickets as Daryl Mitchell (2) and Ross Taylor (14) were dismissed by Parkinson and Pat Brown respectively.

Tim Southee provided some crucial runs in the Kiwis innings but his resistance was cut short by Parkinson in the 13th over. He played a knock of 39 runs off just 15 balls.

Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, and Trent Boult lost their wickets cheaply to hand England a 2-2 lead in the five-match T20I series.

For England, Parkinson bagged four wickets while Jordan clinched two wickets.

Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and elect to field first. England managed to post a score of 241/3 in the allotted twenty overs. England lost its first two wickets with 58 runs on the board. Tom Banton scored 31 runs while Jonny Bairstow was dismissed after registering just 8 runs.

However, after the dismissals of the openers, Morgan and Malan got together at the crease and wreaked havoc on the Kiwi bowling attack. Morgan was dismissed for 91 while Malan remained unbeaten on 103.

The decider of the series will be played at Eden Park in Auckland on November 10.