Persistent rain in Christchurch washes out England's first T20I against New Zealand

Christchurch [New Zealand], October 18 (ANI): England's jam-packed international winter schedule kicked off on a disappointing note after the first T20I against New Zealand at Hagley Oval was washed out due to incessant rain in Christchurch on Saturday.

All eyes will be on England next month when they tour Australia for the Ashes, scheduled to commence on November 21 in Perth. However, before a new chapter in the oldest rivalry of cricket is added, England is navigating through a white-ball series across the Tasman Sea.

In the first fixture of their white-ball tour at Hagley Oval, England were put to bat by the Kiwis. The Harry Brook-led side struggled for consistency on a surface that played all sorts of tricks on the batters. With England dwindling at 81/5, Sam Curran engineered the rescue act with his unbeaten 49 off 35. His swashbuckling effort bailed out England, propelling them to a competitive 153-6 after 20 overs.

However, the weather had the final say and forced the fixture to end without a result. Relentless rain started during the interval and didn't allow the Blackcaps to take a shot at gunning down the target. England will look to regroup and push for a lead in the second T20I on Monday at the same venue.

"The ball did a bit to start with, and New Zealand are very experienced with the new ball - Matt Henry especially, who made the most of the pitch. We obviously want to adapt to the situation and surface, but with the depth we have, we think we can go hard throughout," Harry Brook said as quoted from Sky Sports.

"We have some extremely talented and powerful batters, so if we don't get the start we want, we can accelerate at the end. In the next game, we want to adapt quicker, all of us," Brook added.

New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner lavished praise on all-round display and said, "We started off extremely well with the new ball - it looked pretty challenging - so it was a good all-round performance. We were pretty clinical, chipping away with wickets. This is a building block, a start, for what is coming ahead [with the T20 World Cup in February and March]. You want a well-balanced squad for that - plus a win at home in front of your own fans." (ANI)

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