England's T20 tri-series hopes remain alive after Australia pull off record run chase against New Zealand

It was a day of coming and going but at the end of it England stayed in the tri-series thanks to Australia, their conqueror in the Ashes, who defeated New Zealand by pulling off the record run-chase in T20 matches.

England therefore still have a chance of reaching the final against Australia in Auckland on Wednesday if they beat New Zealand in their last qualifying game on Sunday - and by a handsome margin as England are well behind New Zealand on net run-rate, which will be the tie-breaker if England win.

As for the coming and going, Ben Stokes arrived to join the England team for the first time this winter after his long flight from London, while Eoin Morgan is set to return as captain for Sunday’s game after coming through an indoor net and fitness test on his groin strain - outdoor practice had to be cancelled because Seddon Park has been so wet for the last week.

Stokes was met at Auckland airport and driven to Hamilton 90 minutes away, where he was first greeted by Liam Plunkett, who has played with Stokes for Durham in his time but now has to go home after a recurrence of his minor left hamstring tear. In addition to being missed on Sunday, Plunkett will deplete England’s attack in the subsequent five-match one-day series against New Zealand - unless Stokes takes his place.  

Stokes was reported to have watched some of the Australia v New Zealand slog-fest on television in the team room. Martin Guptill’s 49-ball century was in vain, and it was quite a run-chase given that all of Australia’s Test players apart from David Warner are preparing for their tour of South Africa.

David Willey, one of the few England successes in this tournament because he has taken new-ball wickets, admitted that England are fortunate to be still in the tri-series. “We’ve dropped catches, bowled poorly at times and had some poor execution with the bat so we’ve been down in all three areas but we’ve still got a chance to put that right.”

The news, revealed exclusively in The Telegraph, that his Yorkshire and England teammate Adil Rashid is going to concentrate solely on white-ball cricket did not surprise Willey. Players will continue to see Test cricket as the pinnacle, but if they cannot make it at that level, they will specialise in T20.

“It’s to be expected,” Willey said. “If you look around now with all the white-ball cricket around the world people can make a career out of that. If they don’t want to play Test cricket or four-day cricket it’s an individual’s decision. People make decisions in all different careers as to what they enjoy and what suits them and it wouldn’t surprise me if more guys do it over the next few years with the amount of white-ball cricket that’s available throughout the year.

“I haven’t (played much four-day cricket) but that’s partly because of the one-day schedule. Yorkshire is a strong county and I moved there to try and improve my red-ball cricket so for the time being I still want to do that.

“Last year we were barely available for any four-day cricket because of the Champions Trophy as well, so it then becomes difficult to play regular red-ball cricket which you need to be doing if you want to be pushing for Test cricket.

‘It’s just the way the game seems to be going and these Twenty20 competitions are appealing to people not only for the cricket but also financially. At the end of the day we have a short time playing sport and there comes a time when you have to make decisions for yourself and your family. It’s not something we do until we’re 60 years old and it’s something we have to bear in mind as well.”

Willey has not only had to take care of the new ball but also a new baby as well, his first. “They’re long trips and having my family out here has been great for me. I didn’t want to miss the first few months of him growing up. He’s nearly five months and I’ve been out here since the start of December so if I’d missed all that the tour would have been very difficult for me.”