A BAIR WITH A SORE HEAD

Fired-up Bairstow gave England the perfect start but they meekly fell apart as Kiwis levelled series

- DEAN WILSON

ENGLAND coughed up a 2-0 lead against New Zealand to square the four match T20 series 2-2 after another one-sided contest.

The home side frittered away the lightning start given to them by Jonny Bairstow with the bat to post an under par 175-8 that was easily overhauled with 16 balls to spare.

And with Bairstow failing to appear on the field due to pain in his right shoulder, it capped off an underwhelming few days for the world champions.

Management are said not to be too worried about Bairstow's shoulder but on the eve of a World Cup it is a concern that the player-of-the-series has a different part of his body causing him discomfort rather than his left leg.

"I'm not too worried," said Bairstow. "It is just one of those things, but there is no point in taking any chances with it with the things we've got coming up.