Abu Dhabi, 10 Nov: New Zealand pulled off a heist to upstage England by five wickets in the first semifinal of the T20 World Cup after opener Daryl Mitchell’s heroics and James Neesham’s blitzkrieg here on Wednesday.
By entering the final of the T20 showpiece, New Zealand avenged their heartbreaking loss in the summit showdown of the 2019 ODI World Cup against the same opponents, when they finished second best on the basis of boundary count.
Opener Mitchell blazed his away to an unbeaten 47-ball 72, while Neesham smashed 27 in just 11 deliveries. In between, Devon Conway made an invaluable 46 off 38 balls as New Zealand chased down a target of 167 with six balls to spare.
Needing 57 off 24 balls, Neesham carted Chris Jordan for two sixes and a four for a total of 23 runs. The big over brought the equation down to 34 from 18 balls for New Zealand.
Neesham and Daryl Mitchell then smashed a six each but the former ended up hitting Adil Rashid straight to Eoin Morgan in the covers in the 18th over.
However, Mitchell pulverised Chris Woakes for two more sixes and a four to finish the job with an over to spare, something that seemed impossible a few moments ago.
In pursuit of 167, Martin Guptill (4) began New Zealand’s chase with a first-ball boundary but, two balls later, the opener, so vital to his team’s prospects, got a leading edge off Woakes to hand England a massive advantage right in the beginning of their innings.
As England tightened the noose, Kane Williamson tried to break the shackles but in doing so the Kiwi skipper ended up top-edging Woakes to Rashid, as New Zealand slipped to 13 for two in the third over.
The two early wickets put England in the driver’s seat as New Zealand struggled to keep pace with the required run rate.
That the dew didn’t become much of a factor at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, did not help New Zealand’s cause as the English bowlers did not face problems in gripping the ball.
Conway and Mitchell found the boundaries on and off, but New Zealand needed more than that to mount a serious challenge to their opponents.
That was not to be, as Conway was stumped by Jos Buttler to end a valiant effort.
Earlier, all-rounder Moeen Ali top-scored with an unbeaten 37-ball 51 to propel England to 166 for four.
Sent into bat, Moeen and Dawid Malan (42 off 30 balls) were England’s main contributors with the willow. (PTI)