If the first game of this series was ruined by a downpour, the second was won by a deluge. A 129-run partnership between Phil Salt and Harry Brook powered the tourists towards a score of 236 for four, England smashing 34 boundaries and the record score on this ground, leaving New Zealand a forlorn chase which ended when their last wicket fell with two overs remaining and 65 still required.
The Black Caps demonstrated some mighty power-hitting of their own but they simply could not do it often enough, and too regularly lost wickets in trying, with England’s fielding despite a swirling wind as impeccable as their opponents’ had been unreliable. Adil Rashid took four wickets, and Jordan Cox three catches, as New Zealand were dismissed for 171.
