England played New Zealand in one of the most crucial matches of group 1. The match was played at the Gabba, and the winner of the match would affect the Semi-final spots. England emerged victorious by 20 runs reclaiming the second spot on the table.
Off-late England and New Zealand matches are one of the most exciting matches to watch. Starting from the ICC ODI World Cup Final in 2019, there is always something extra that comes when these two nations play each other.
Today’s match was equally important for both teams because if New Zealand had to win today, they would be the first team to register their spot in the Semi-finals, and if England were to win, then, they would push Australia to the edge of the cliff from the ICC T20 World Cup.
However, England did emerge victorious in today’s fixture. They gave an all-round performance. They knew they needed the win today and you could see it in their performance. The English openers had not got many runs up till today’s match, but today they lead from the front and put up an opening partnership of 81 runs.
When the best batsman of the team performs, it is regarded as a good day for the team and that is what happened today, the English Captain Jos Buttler was awarded the Man of the match award for his excellent batting display.
Jos Scored 73 Runs at a Strike Rate of 155
He was given equal company by his fellow opener, Alex Hales. Hales also scored a half-century in 42 balls.
The opening pair had already done enough damage to the kiwis and eventually, England gave New Zealand a target of 180 runs to chase. From what we saw from New Zealand in the first game against Australia, the batting line-up has solely been dependent on Glenn Phillips. Kane Williamson did score a run-a-ball 40 but in a fast-moving T20 game you cannot play at such a slow strike rate. Glenn Phillips fought hard till he could and scored 62 runs from 36 balls. Besides Phillips, no other New Zealand batsmen could fire off against the English bowlers. They eventually fell short of 20 runs and lost the match.
There are a lot of calculations being done after England’s win today. If New Zealand wins its next match it will move into the semi-finals. Australia would have hoped for England to lose today but now that England has won, it is going to be a tight situation for the defending champions to qualify for the semi-finals.
