England saw their total of 170 chased down on the final ball with three wickets to spare by a New Zealand XI in their final warm-up match at the Cobham Oval in Whangerai.
Having opted to bat once more the tourists began slowly with the bat, with Michael Lumb (45 from 36) the only man to get a score in the top four.
But late-order half-centuries from Eoin Morgan (51 not out from 28) and Jos Buttler (51 from 31) catapulted England to a competitive-looking 170 for five from their 20 overs.
New Zealand’s XI began solidly and took full advantage of some loose bowling from Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach and James Tredwell.
Left-hander Tom Latham (64 from 38) looked to be easing the home side to the target, but his was one of two wickets to fall in the penultimate over from Stuart Broad (4-0-24-3), sparking a late bout of nerves.
Dernbach’s slower ball accounted for Doug Bracewell to leave New Zealand chasing five from five balls – they managed singles from each of the first four of those, before Matt Henry worked the last ball over the infield for the winning runs.
The first of three T20 internationals takes place on Saturday in Auckland.
