England stay superior

England skipper Paul Collingwood executes a pull shot on way to a blistering fifty during the second Twenty20 match against New Zealand at Lancaster Park in Christchurch yesterday.Photo: AFP

England again outclassed New Zealand when Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah reversed a batting slump to engineer a 50-run win in their Twenty20 match here Thursday.
England posted 193 for eight and a demoralised New Zealand could only manage 143 for eight in reply.
The win wrapped up the festival section of the tour for England 2-0, giving them a psychological edge as they head into a series of five one-day matches starting on Saturday followed by three Tests next month.
But the second Twenty20 victory was not as clinical as the first encounter when England fielded the same team and most batsmen contributed to their 32-run victory on Tuesday.
This time New Zealand were able to force an England top order slump before Collingwood and Shah regained the ascendancy.
After a rollicking start by Luke Wright and Phil Mustard, who clouted 65 in 5.5 overs, the next 15 deliveries saw England lose four wickets for 11 runs to be 76 for four.
Teenaged paceman Tim Southee, 19, who is being blooded by New Zealand as a talent of the future, claimed the prized scalps of Mustard (40) and Kevin Pietersen (three).
Chris Martin bowled Wright for 30 and Ian Bell was run out for one going for a quick single on a misfield.
But if New Zealand thought they had England on the ropes they were quickly corrected as Shah and Collingwood put on 102 in 62 balls for the fifth wicket.
Captain Collingwood had five fours and three sixes in his 54 off 28 deliveries while Shah faced 35 balls for 47 including four fours and two sixes.
Both fell in consecutive balls from Paul Hitchcock -- Shah caught at deep long off and Collingwood at deep long on, bringing in the powerful Dmitri Mascarenhas who avoided the hattrick with a six.
Collingwood rated the England performance better than in the first match because of the way they recovered.
"We lost four quick wickets in the middle but we got the momentum back and that was important and the boys carried it on through the innings and that was a massive total," he said.
"There's so many positives that have come out of it and hopefully we can take that kind of form into the one-day series. We've got five very important games coming up and we can take a lot of confidence from these two wins."
A dejected New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said his side needed to be more accurate all round to be competitive.
"To be on the receiving end of another hiding was very disappointing," he said.
"After we pulled back the initial onslaught I thought we were setting ourselves up for a 150-160 chase but two experienced guys put together a very, very good partnership which sent them to a score which was well beyond our reach."
New Zealand started their chase for 194 to win with a Jesse Ryder boundary off the first ball but lost their way soon after.
Halfway through the innings they were four wickets down and well behind on the run rate with only 72 on the board.
Without Jacob Oram, who brought some respectability to New Zealand's first match performance, the home side had little chance of a late run fest.
Jamie How top scored with 31, Kyle Mills was not out 30 and Ross Taylor made 21 but no one appeared at ease against a tight bowling attack.
Ryan Sidebottom was again miserly with two for 19 off his four overs while Mascarenhas finished with two for 25 and Graeme Swann two for 30.