The New Nation - Internet Edition

BBC Online

England gave another strong performance to win the second Twenty20 match against New Zealand in Christchurch by 50 runs and seal the series 2-0.

Paul Collingwood (54) and Owais Shah (47) successfully weathered a mini-collapse to put on 102 from 62 balls and lead the tourists to 193-8.

New Zealand slumped to 42-3 after six overs and could only manage 143-8.

Ryan Sidebottom was the pick of an impressive England bowling unit, taking 2-19 with no swing available.

And none of England's bowlers let their skipper down, their collective accuracy ensuring an easy stroll to victory.

Man-of-the-match Collingwood won the toss, and having successfully defended a total in Auckland, opted to bat once again.

They named an unchanged side, while New Zealand showed two changes.

Medium pacer Paul Hitchcock replaced spinner Jeetan Patel and the hard-hitting Jacob Oram rested a tight hamstring, batsman Daniel Flynn getting a debut.

The early overs featured some robust hitting from Phil Mustard (40) and Luke Wright (30), who took the score to 65-0 from the first 34 balls of the innings.

It was not the most aesthetically pleasing batting, but the short boundaries were cleared on four occasions and Hitchcock's first over cost 22.

New Zealand briefly came back into contention, however, with 19-year-old seamer Tim Southee bowling straight and full for figures of 2-22.

He had Kevin Pietersen lbw for three with a low full toss on middle stump and persuaded Mustard to hit a high catch to mid-on.

With Ian Bell run out cheaply in between, England had lost 4-11 in 21 balls and Collingwood and Shah had to rebuild the innings.

They timed their partnership exquisitely well, taking few risks initially before upping the tempo.

Typically, Collingwood hit nearly all his runs through the leg-side with a rich assortment of pulls, slog-sweeps and drives.

Shah was patient to begin with, but also hit some big shots later in the innings, hitting two sixes to Collingwood's three.