The Black Caps made it to the final of yet another major ICC tournament as the Kane Williamson-led side pulled off a stunning victory against England, after looking to be in the trenches at one stage of the game. The Kiwis, who have reached the finals in each of the last two 50-over World Cups, in 2015 and 2019, will be looking for a win this time around, having lost the other two games.
New Zealand captain Williamson won the toss at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, and decided to bowl first, a very popular decision among captains throughout the tournament. The Three Lions, who lost their opener Jason Roy after he suffered a shoulder injury in the previous game against South Africa, promoted Jonny Bairstow to the opening position and brought in the young Sam Billings in place of Roy. New Zealand decided to go with an unchanged squad.
Bairstow, who is quite comfortable opening the batting on most occasions, struggled against the Kiwi pacers, taking 17 balls for his 13 runs, before getting dismissed by virtue of a sensational catch by Williamson off Milne’s bowling. Buttler, meanwhile, was in good touch, as he scored a couple of boundaries, taking England to a half-decent start. The powerplay was equally contested by both teams as England finished on 40/1.
Buttler was joined by left-handed batsman Dawid Malan, who was the World No.1 T20 batsman for a considerable amount of time. The southpaw was reasonably quick to settle in, scoring runs at a good strike rate, as his partner Buttler was dismissed leg before by the wily customer Ish Sodhi. Buttler’s dismissal brought in Moeen Ali, who has been in excellent form throughout the tournament, particularly with the ball.
The task of stabilising the innings, and creating a platform to accelerate in the end fell on Malan and Moeen’s shoulders, who did a very good job of it as well. Both batsmen scored quickly, getting boundaries regularly to keep the runs flowing through the middle overs.
The duo did an extremely good job in a tricky situation, reaching the 100-run mark in the 13th over. With the platform now set, they looked to attack in the final five overs, when Dawid Malan lost his wicket after edging one off Southee behind the stumps, ending a good innings of 41.
Ali then went on the offensive, striking a few lusty blows, as all-rounder Liam Livingstone also played a brief cameo to boost England’s score to 166/4 after 20 overs.
New Zealand, who needed 167 to reach yet another final in an ICC trophy, opened with their usual combination of Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell. The former struck a boundary off the very first ball of the innings, only to top edge the next one, straight into Ali’s grateful grasp. England bowled an excellent first few overs as they even got rid of the dangerous Williamson after an attempted scoop off Chris Woakes’ bowling.
With the pressure now on Devon Conway and Mitchell, the duo played some expansive strokes to break the shackles and finished the powerplay on 32/2. The duo then slowed down a bit in the middle overs, as the runs were not as easy to get with England bowling quite well with the target in mind.
After the 10th over, Conway started to go after the English bowlers, hitting a couple of sixes before Livingstone bowled a quicker one, deceiving Conway as Buttler whipped off the bails. Liam was on a roll, also picking up the wicket of Glenn Phillips, leaving the Kiwis on 107/4, after 15.1 overs, needing 60 in 29 when Neesham walked out to bat.
New Zealand were in such a position that a good contribution from James Neesham was absolutely imperative if they were to stand any chance of making it through. He responded to the needs of his team, playing an absolutely fantastic cameo of 27 in just 11 balls, turning the game completely on its head.
With the situation slightly better from a NZ standpoint, Mitchell finished off the job magnificently, hitting four sixes in the final few overs as the Kiwis won what was being considered an unwinnable game just a few minutes before.
Mitchell won the man of the match for his superb performance, as he batted through the innings, making a wonderful 72 in just 47 balls. Neesham also was instrumental in the Kiwi win, bowling a few crucial overs and also turning the game around with his fabulous cameo. It was also heartbreaking for the English, who had played extremely well despite losing out on a bunch of key players due to injury.
The Kiwis will play the winner of the second semifinal between Pakistan and Australia on the 14th of November at the Dubai International Stadium.
Brief scores
England- 166/4 in 20 overs (Moeen-51*(37); Malan-41(30); Southee-1/24)
New Zealand- 167/5 in 18.4 overs (Mitchell-72*(47); Conway-46(38); Woakes-2/38)
New Zealand beat England by five wickets with eight balls to spare
