England beat New Zealand by 20 runs, remain in semi-final race

Half-centuries from openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales were followed by fine bowling from Sam Curran and Chris Woakes as England beat New Zealand by 20 runs in the ICC T20 World Cup match here on Tuesday to keep their hopes of a place in the semi-finals alive. Chasing England’s target of 180 runs, New Zealand could only manage 159 for six in front of the sharp bowling of Curran (2 for 26) and Woakes (2 for 33). Glenn Phillips (62), apart from scoring a half-century, added 91 runs for the third wicket with captain Kane Williamson (40) but it was not enough for the team to win.

With this win, three teams including England in Group One have five points from four matches. New Zealand and Australia also have the same number of points. New Zealand is on top and England is second due to better net run rate. England scored 179 for six with captain Butler (73 off 47 balls, seven fours, two sixes) and Hales (52 off 40 balls, seven fours, one six) sharing an 81-run opening stand. New Zealand will play their fifth and final group match against Ireland on November 4, while England will take on Sri Lanka the next day.

Chasing the target, New Zealand had a poor start and the team lost the wickets of both openers Devon Conway (03) and Finn Allen (16) for 28 runs in the fifth over. In the second over of Woakes’ innings, wicketkeeper Butler took a brilliant catch of Conway while diving towards the leg-side. Allen also tried to play a big shot on Curran in the fifth over, playing the ball in the air and Stokes took a simple catch at deep midwicket. Williamson and Phillips, who scored a century in the previous match against Sri Lanka, then took over the innings. New Zealand scored 40 for two in the powerplay. Phillips was lucky on the score of four when Buttler failed to catch him off Liam Livingstone’s delivery. Phillips got second life on the score of 15 runs.

This time Moeen Ali could not catch his catch at cover off Adil Rashid. Phillips then took an aggressive approach. After hitting a six on Wood, he took the team’s score past 100 runs with two consecutive sixes on Rashid in the 14th over. Phillips completed his half-century in just 25 balls with two runs off Rashid. Williamson, however, gave an easy catch to Rashid at short third man off Ben Stokes (one wicket for 10 runs). He hit three fours in his 40-ball innings. New Zealand needed 57 runs to win in the last five overs. Wood gave New Zealand the fourth blow by getting James Neesham (06) caught at the hands of Curran, while in the next over Daryl Mitchell (03) off Woakes was also caught by substitute Chris Jordan at long on. The team needed 49 runs in the last three overs.

Phillips was also caught in the hands of Jordan in an attempt to play a big shot off Curran. He faced 36 balls and hit four fours and three sixes. Mitchell Santner (16 not out) and Ish Sodhi (06 not out) could only close the margin of defeat. Earlier, Buttler became the leading run-scorer for England in T20 International cricket, overtaking Eoin Morgan during this innings. Luck also favored Butler. He got life on the scores of eight and 40. He got his first life in the powerplay when his New Zealand counterpart Kane Williamson jumped into the covers and caught the ball but when he fell down, the ball got out of his hand.

Butler took the lead after Hales was dismissed. He targeted Lockie Ferguson and once again he got lucky when Daryl Mitchell dropped a simple catch at the midwicket boundary. After returning to the team, the 33-year-old Hales, who has been in excellent form, scored his third half-century in the last 12 innings. Both avoided playing shots in the air in the powerplay, which is not their natural game. England set the stage for a big score by scoring 77 runs in 10 overs without losing a wicket. Mitchell Santner (1 for 25) and Ish Sodhi (1 for 23) put some curb on the run-rate. Left-arm spinner Santner varied his pace well. Santner gave New Zealand their first breakthrough by stumping Hales.

Also read: The pain of these players spilled over not being selected on the tour of New Zealand and Bangladesh

Moeen Ali, sent at number three, disappointed and after scoring five runs, fell victim to Ferguson (2 for 45) in the 14th over.New Zealand, however, bowled better in the last three overs, taking four wickets including Buttler and conceding just 22 runs during this period. In the 19th over of Tim Southee’s innings, Harry Brooke (08) and Ben Stokes (08) returned to the pavilion within three balls to make England 10 to 15 runs less than expected.