WELLINGTON: The safe hands of Colin de Grandhomme proved crucial as New Zealand drew level with England 1-1 in their five-match Twenty20 International series in Wellington on Sunday.

While de Grandhomme was pouching all four skied balls that went his way at the Westpac Stadium, England were left to rue an uncomfortable day in the field with six spilled chances including three by James Vince.

New Zealand, who suffered a seven-wicket loss in the first match in Christchurch on Friday, were sent in to bat first and made their most of the errant fielding to post 176-8.

Martin Guptill at the top of the innings clouted 41 off 28 deliveries, while Jimmy Neesham belted 42 off 22, including four sixes, before he was removed on the final ball of the innings.

De Grandhomme also pushed the pace, facing only 12 balls for a whirlwind 28.

England in reply looked comfortable at 91-4 in the 11th over before New Zealand removed the remaining six wickets to end the innings with a ball to spare.

Mitchell Santner claimed three for 25 while Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson and Ish Sodhi took two wickets apiece.

England captain Eoin Morgan said it was easy to analyse the reasons for the loss, and the issues were repairable.

“We dropped catches and we continued to lose wickets,” he said. “We need to keep the attacking positive mindset. I think it’s important to make mistakes, but I think the most important part is to learn from them.”

After England lost Johnny Bairstow first ball, and Vince in the second over, Morgan (32) and Dawid Malan (39) set about rebuilding the innings.

But when Morgan gave de Grandhomme his first catch, the wickets fell regularly with only Chris Jordan (36 off 19) providing any solid resistance at the lower part of the batting order.

Malan fell to an exceptional diving catch by Guptill who also accounted for the wicket of Jordan in a polished New Zealand fielding performance.

Game three is in Nelson on Tuesday.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:

M.J. Guptill c Vince b Rashid 41

C. Munro lbw b Curran 7

T.L. Seifert c Billings b Mahmood 16

C. de Grandhomme b Gregory 28

L.R.P.L. Taylor lbw b Jordan 28

D.J. Mitchell c Jordan b Curran 5

J.D.S. Neesham c b Jordan 42

M.J. Santner c Brown b Jordan 0

T.G. Southee not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-2) 5

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 176

FALL OF WKTS: 1-23, 2-57, 3-85, 4-96, 5-121, 6-151, 7-151, 8-176.

DID NOT BAT: L.H. Ferguson, I.S. Sodhi.

BOWLING: Curran 4-0-22-2 (2w); Mahmood

4-0-46-1; Jordan 4-0-23-3; Brown 2-0-32-0; Adil Rashid 4-0-40-1; Gregory 2-0-10-1.

ENGLAND:

J.M. Bairstow c Mitchell b Southee 0

D.J. Malan c Guptill b Sodhi 39

J.M. Vince c Santner b Ferguson 1

E.J.G. Morgan c de Grandhomme b Santner 32

S.W. Billings c de Grandhomme b Sodhi 8

S.M. Curran c Grandhomme b Santner 9

L. Gregory c de Grandhomme b Southee 15

C.J. Jordan c Guptill b Santner 36

Adil Rashid b Mitchell 4

S.I. Mahmood c Southee b Ferguson 4

P.R. Brown not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-1) 3

TOTAL (all out, 19.5 overs) 155

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-3, 3-40, 4-64, 5-91, 6-93, 7-134, 8-144, 9-148.

BOWLING: Southee 4-0-25-2; Ferguson 4-0-34-2; Santner 4-0-25-3; Neesham 2-0-23-0; Sodhi 4-0-37-2 (1w); Mitchell 1.5-0-9-1

RESULT: New Zealand won by 21 runs to level five-match series 1-1.

UMPIRES: W.R. Knights (New Zealand) and S.B. Haig (New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: A. Mehrotra (New Zealand).

MATCH REFEREE: A.J. Pycroft (Zimbabwe).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mitchell Santner.

FIRST MATCH: Christchurch, England won by seven wickets.

THIRD MATCH: Nelson, Nov 5.

FOURTH MATCH: Napier (N), Nov 8.

FIFTH MATCH: Auckland, Nov 10.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2019