Bell blasts England to victory

Seamer James Anderson gets England off to a perfect start with a quick wicket

Opener Ian Bell helped England complete a hat-trick of successive victories in Twenty20 cricket as they overwhelmed New Zealand by nine wickets in the NatWest International at Old Trafford.

The home side, who won the two meetings with New Zealand in the winter, more than justified skipper Paul Collingwood’s decision to field after restricting their opponents to 123 for nine - their lowest total in the shortened form of the game.

Then Bell registered his first international Twenty20 half-century off just 39 balls with seven fours and one six to ensure England triumphed with the minimum of fuss.

It means New Zealand have lost their last seven Twenty20 internationals and it followed on from their 2-0 defeat in the recent npower Test series.

Bell and Luke Wright guaranteed England would have few worries in reaching their modest target with an opening stand of 48 from six overs.

Bell reeled off a series of impressive drives while Wright adopted a more unconventional but also effective approach. Michael Mason made the breakthrough when Wright (24) holed out to Mark Gillespie at long on.

Kevin Pietersen made a circumspect start and he survived a difficult caught and bowled chance before he had scored in New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori’s first over.

But there was no real pressure on England and Bell (60 not out) and an increasingly fluent Pietersen (42no) saw them home in the 18th over after an unbroken stand of 79.

England produced a disciplined bowling performance and the Kiwis were never allowed to build any momentum in front of a capacity 17,000 crowd.

Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Graeme Swann picked up two wickets each but there was no weak link in the England attack.

Peter Fulton is bowled for a duck by Graeme Swann

The new ball attack of Broad and Anderson quickly put England in the driving seat - and they never relinquished their grip.

Jamie How (1) drove hard at Anderson and only succeeded in edging a comfortable catch to Owais Shah at slip

New batsman James Marshall then chased at a wide delivery and was caught behind by Tim Ambrose - the seventh different wicketkeeper used by England in 14 Twenty20 internationals.

Brendon McCullum was expected to be the Black Caps dangerman but he was starved of the strike and in the first six overs faced only eight deliveries from which he failed to score.

Ross Taylor briefly provided some impetus to the innings with two fours and a six in the space of four balls from Anderson.

But, after making 25 off 16 balls, Taylor perished in the first over from Paul Collingwood who undid him with a ball which cut back and bowled him through the gate.

McCullum finally started to open out and, after Wright dropped short, he cleared the midwicket boundary. But Wright had his revenge in the same over as he produced the perfect yorker to bowl McCullum for 24 off 23 balls.

It became 68 for five when spinner Swann’s second delivery spun sharply and bowled Peter Fulton for a duck.

The sixth-wicket pair of Scott Styris and Daniel Flynn added 28 in five overs before the former, on 10, aimed an ugly heave over midwicket and saw the delivery from the returning Broad hit the top of the leg stump.

Flynn was the second top-scorer with 23 before being stumped by Ambrose after coming down the wicket to Swann.

Anderson came back into the attack to have Kyle Mills (12) caught by Bell at mid-off and Mason (2) was run out off the final ball.