NZ🆚ENG: Pacers⚡, Vince Fetch Series Lead⬆ for England🇽🇪

England 154 for 3 (Vince 59, Santner 3-23) beat New Zealand 153 for 5 (Taylor 44) by seven wickets

A maiden T20I half-century from James Vince helped a new-look England get their New Zealand tour off to a winning start in Christchurch.

Despite taking the opportunity to look at three debutants - Sam Curran, Pat Brown and Lewis Gregory - England ensured the reign of new head coach, Chris Silverwood, got off to a winning start in sealing a sixth successive T20I victory. For a side experimenting with fringe candidates a year out from the T20 World Cup, it was a satisfying performance.

There were some dissenting voices when Vince, now 28 and playing his 35th international game across formats for England, was recalled. But when he bats like this, combining composure with an ability to time the ball that few can match, it is easy to see why the selectors have found it so hard to cut him adrift.

Here, demonstrating a range of conventional strokes, Vince controlled the run-chase perfectly. From the moment he hit his first delivery for four, a classy square drive of Mitchell Santner, he batted with a fluency no other batsman in the game could replicate. Using his feet to pace and spin alike, he made it hard for New Zealand's bowlers to settle on a length and hit as many fours - seven - as their batsmen managed in their entire innings.