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3rd over: England 28-1 (Salt 23, Bethell 1) Nothing much to report in Henry’s second over, four runs from it.
2nd over: England 24-1 (Salt 20, Bethell 0) Duffy dug that wicket ball in short, which meant it hit high on the bat as Buttler came charging at him. Nicely bowled if he meant it.
WICKET! England 24-1 (Buttler c Santner b Duffy 4)
This Hagley Oval pitch looks better for batting than on Saturday. Salt climbs into a wide ball from Jacob Duffy, blasting it square on the off side for four, then top-edges a pull over the keeper’s head for another boundary.
After getting off the mark with a sizzling drive over cover for four, Buttler charges Duffy and clunks the ball high to Santner at mid-off. He has to wait near the boundary edge while they check for a no-ball. It’s very tight, and the angles aren’t great, but the third umpire decides it’s a fair delivery and Buttler is on his way.
1st over: England 11-0 (Salt 11, Buttler 0) Phil Salt sets the agenda by clouting Henry’s second ball over midwicket for six. I mean, why wouldn’t you? A drag behind square brings four more off the next ball. Good start for England.
And… action
The weather is lovely at the moment, as Simon said, and the brilliant Matt Henry is about to open the bowling.
Simon Burnton
Evening/morning/whatever. Tonight might be a near-replay of Saturday - same teams, same result at the toss, same decision made, equally lovely early evening and an equally dismal forecast for later. Looks like the rain might hold off until 11pm or so, allowing us to get a full game in, but you never know. Definitely a smaller crowd, what with it being a weeknight and everything, but Hagley Oval is looking resplendent in the early evening sun and with my optimistic hat as ever lodged in place it’s hard not to be a bit gleeful at what we’ve got in store.
Team news
Both sides are unchanged. Next!
New Zealand Seifert (wk), Robinson, Ravindra, Chapman, Mitchell, Bracewell, Neesham, Santner (c), Jamieson, Henry, Duffy.
England Salt, Buttler (wk), Bethell, Brook (c), Banton, S Curran, Cox, Carse, Dawson, Rashid, L Wood.
New Zealand win the toss and bowl
It worked pretty well on Saturday, so whoever won the toss was always going to bowl first.
Erm, about that Christchurch weather forecast
Turns out opinions vary, and we may be looking at another rain-ruined game. It’s the height of spring in New Zealand, what did you expect man!
Sam Curran’s intelligent unbeaten 49 was the main positive for England in the first game. “He’s going to be around for a while, I think,” said his captain Harry Brook after the game.
Preamble
Hello, hello and welcome to live, over-by-over coverage of the second T20 international between New Zealand and England in Christchurch. The first match on Saturday was abandoned because it’s the height of spring in New Zealand, what did you bloody expect man rain, but the forecast is better tonight and we should get a full game.
The match starts at 7.15pm local time, 7.15am BST, and we’ll have the toss and team news around half an hour before that. But first, coffee.
