New Zealand beat England by a comfortable six wickets at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, with Tim Seifert hitting 48 and Glenn Phillips adding 42, to level the four-match T20I series 2-2.

England’s Jonny Bairstow (73) had hit his fastest half century in T20Is as the hosts set New Zealand a target of 176 after finishing on 175/8 on a warm evening. Mitchell Santner was the most successful bowler for the visitors with three wickets.

The Black Caps then made it look one-sided, as they finished on 179/4 with 2.4 overs to spare.

England had won the first two matches, with New Zealand coming back strongly to end on level terms.

“We were far from our best in the first two games and the last two have been closer to what this side is about,” said New Zealand captain Tim Southee.

“They got off to a great start but we knew that if we kept taking wickets it was the best way to slow them down. We were trying to be smart and make them take aggressive options.”

Opener Seifert was caught and bowled by Rehan Ahmed after reaching 48 from 32 balls, and Phillips also fell to the 19-year-old leg spinner when he was caught by Sam Curran.

“We got a reasonable score but it wasn’t enough because it was a good surface,” said England captain Moeen Ali, standing in for the rested Jos Buttler, who then came on anyway when Bairstow suffered shoulder pain and did not take the field.

“They had a brilliant start with the bat too and then we couldn’t wrestle it back.”

Bairstow had smashed four sixes into the crowd by the time England reached their half century in 4.3 overs. He later brushed aside concerns over his shoulder injury.

Brief scores: England 175/8 in 20 ovs (Jonny Bairstow 73; Mitchell Santner 3/30). NZ 179/4 in 17.2 ovs (Tim Seifert 48, Glenn Philips 42, Mark Chapman 40 n.o.). NZ won by 6 wkts.