England arrive in New Zealand for key white-ball series against Black Caps
New Zealand v England | 1st T20I | Saturday, 18th October | Hagley Oval, Christchurch | 8:15am
Saturday’s game between New Zealand and England is the first of three T20Is. England’s tour to the land of the long white cloud involves a T20I series and an ODI series.
New Zealand have won each of their last two T20I encounters against England. Those games were a long time ago however – Saturday’s encounter will be the first T20I between the sides since September 2023.
England are currently the third ranked T20I side in the world while New Zealand is a spot further back in fourth place.
England’s Phil Salt and Jos Buttler are the two highest ranked batters involved in Saturday’s game.
Salt is ranked second after his exploits against South Africa while Buttler is fourth.
New Zealand’s top ranked player is seventh placed Tim Seifert.
The Black Caps regular white-ball captain Mitchell Santner and batsman Rachin Ravindra, who both missed the recent games against Australia, are fit again and set to make their return to the squad.
Veteran batsman Kane Williamson is still not fully fit, however. He is targeting a return to Black Cap action for the ODI series which follows the three T20Is.
Also missing for New Zealand are Finn Allen, Adam Milne, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips and Lockie Ferguson who are all out with long-term issues.
Venue: Hagley Oval, Christchurch
Of the 16 T20Is played at the venue, ten have been won by the side batting second and six by the side batting first.
The average first innings score at the ground is 150.
The highest score made at the ground was New Zealand’s 208/5 from 20 overs in a game against Bangladesh in 2022.
The highest score successfully chased here was Pakistan’s 177 for three (in 19.5 overs) against Bangladesh in 2022
Meanwhile the lowest score defended was Pakistan’s 134/8 against New Zealand in 2024.
England have never been defeated at the Hagley over. They have played one T20I at the ground (against New Zealand in 2019), a game they won by seven wickets with nine balls to spare.
Weather:
The bad weather is due to arrive in Christchurch soon, but it won’t hit until Sunday, which means game one of the series between New Zealand and England should go ahead without interruptions. The wind will be blustery at 21kph, and it certainly won’t be too hot at just 21 degrees. No rain will fall which means the series should get off to a proper start.
Form (most recent game first):
New Zealand: L, NR, L, W, W.
England: W, A, W, A, W.
Key player:
New Zealand, Tim Seifert: One of the key features of so many T20 teams these days is the power hitting wicket-taker at the top of the order. Seifert fills the role for New Zealand, and he is making the spot his own, coming into the series as the Black Caps highest ranked batter. He top-scored for the Kiwi’s in the third T20I against Australia and he made a brisk 57 in his last CPL outing. Seifert will either go big or go early – with plenty of quality coming in behind him, if he gets going it could spell trouble for England.
England, Phil Salt: Salt is in excellent form at the moment. Up to number two on the ICC T20I rankings, he is averaging 86.33 runs per knock from his last four T20I outings. His overall career average in the format is just a shade shy of 40 while with a career T20I strike rate of 169.62, he boasts the fifth highest career strike rate of all time. Batting at the top of the order, Salt has plenty of scope to influence proceedings. Expect him to look for the fence from ball one.
Verdict: New Zealand
This will be a close one, but England have made a habit of starting series slowly in recent times. With several of their key players returning from injury, having missed the three-game series against Australia, they will be hopeful of returning to winning ways. Home ground advantage should help shade things in favour of the Kiwis.
