NZ beat ENG by 12 runs | New Zealand vs England, Highlights And Cricket Score 4th T20 Match

That brings us to the close of this slam-bang game. England hang in the series just mathematically. Their hopes lie on the Aussies defeating the Kiwis with a good margin and then they themselves returning the hosts the favour to go through. A lot of ifs and buts are involved there. For now, we have the Trans-Tasman battle as the next one. That game starts at 1900 local time (0600 GMT) a couple of days after Valentine's Day. Hope to catch you for that game. Till then, ta ta, take care! Meanwhile, you can catch all the action of the 5th ODI between South Africa and India by switching tabs.

Jos Buttler, the losing skipper laments that they leaked 10-15 runs too many with the ball. Admits to his bowlers being largely awry yet dragging it back towards the end. Says that when Alex Hales looks good like he did at the start, the fielders don't matter and at that stage they looked good to go. About hoping for Australia to beat New Zealand for England to qualify, he states that they won't wish for anything and just let things take their own course.

The Player of the Match award is given to Kane Williamson. The New Zealand captain says that it feels good to do well against an English side that has been a force to reckon with in limited overs cricket of late. Admits to having no great clue about the ideal score on this wicket and the start provided by his batters augured well for them. About his own form, he reckons that he was a knock away from getting back among the runs and he always looked to give it his all. Iterates that the conditions were tough for fielding yet his side did well to come out on the right side of the result.

Alex Hales began well in the pursuit of the tall target. He was timing the ball crisply and bashing it brilliantly till the time he was sent back. Dawid Malan was the only other English batter who looked like posing a fight. The duo's association of 65 runs gave their side a realistic chance of gunning the score down. But then, the others failed to turn up and that turned out to be their undoing. Not sure if this is yet another batting failure for them or a bowling failure this time. Mind you, this result does hide the fact that the evening saw many catches being dropped by the Kiwis. Fortunately for them, it didn't cost them the game. Mitchell Santner was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts, varying his flight and pace, in course of picking up a couple of wickets. Their bowling attack never let the tourists off the hook in the run chase. Let's wait to hear what the presentation has for us.

Pretty one-way traffic in the end. England have been steamrolled yet again in this tri-series. In the previous games, the talks revolved around their bowling not getting a chance to come good due to their batting failures. But here, when they did bowl first, they failed to exhibit much control, so much so that they ended up conceding a mountain full of runs. That proved a bit too much in the end for their batters, who yet again fell short.

Trent Boult to Adil Rashid. FOUR! Speared in on the pads, Rashid just tickles it fine down the leg side and the ball races away to the fence. Counts for nothing more than reducing the DEFEAT MARGIN TO 12 RUNS! First win for New Zealand in the series.

Trent Boult to Mark Wood. Squeezed out through point for a single.

Trent Boult to Mark Wood. Full and outside off, Mark misses it.

Trent Boult to Mark Wood. FOUR! Streaky but that's what you get with tailenders in. Length ball angling away, Wood gives it his all but gets a thick outside edge past the keeper and into the third man fence.

Trent Boult to Adil Rashid. Outside off, cut away through point for one.

Trent Boult to Adil Rashid. The batsman flicks it away with a wristy shot. The batsmen have picked up a couple of runs.

Tim Southee to Adil Rashid. CURTAINS FOR WILLEY! Yorker on the stumps, Rashid digs it out. The ball rolls towards the keeper, who takes down the stumps at his end with a dive as Willey tries to get in with a dive of his own. Both the Tims seem pretty confident as the umpire takes it upstairs. First look by the TV umpire confirms the first line.

Tim Southee to David Willey. This is around off, David charges down and takes it on the full towards mid off. Just one possible.

Tim Southee to David Willey. Very full on the stumps, a low full toss in fact. Hit back towards the bowler, whose leg stops the ball from going past him.

Tim Southee to Adil Rashid. This is hit down to long on for a single. 26 off 9 needed.

Tim Southee to Adil Rashid. Another yorker outside off, dug out well by Rashid for nothing.

Tim Southee to Adil Rashid. WIDE! Full and spearing down the leg side. Adil misses the flick.

Tim Southee to David Willey. Yorker outside off, Willey squeezes it out through point on the off side for one.