COLOMBO: A brilliant rearguard effort from England’s lower order helped it prevail over New Zealand by four wickets and three balls to spare in their T20 World Cup Super Eights match here on Friday. Required to chase 160, England looked down and out at 117/6 in 16.5 overs.
That’s when Will Jacks took centre stage, scoring 32 (18b, 4x4, 1x6) to steer his team to safety in the company of Rehan Ahmed who was not out on 19 (7b, 1x4, 2x6).
Earlier, England’s spinners showed their wares to limit a scratchy New Zealand to 159 for seven. Opting to bat, the New Zealand innings lacked that one big knock that would have seen them post a better total in a game in which victory would secure their passage into the semifinals alongside England.
Glenn Phillips (39 off 28 balls), Tim Seifert (35 off 25 balls) and Finn Allen (29 off 19 balls) were the chief contributors for the Kiwis with the bat.
Will Jacks (2/23), Adil Rashid (2/28) and Rehan Ahmed (2/28) were excellent with the ball for England, stifling the New Zealand batters in the middle overs after their pacers were smashed around.
Jofra Archer, who was spitting fire the other night against Pakistan, started with a maiden over that also included a New Zealand review after the on-field umpire adjudged Tim Seifert out caught behind following a loud appeal and a noise that probably came from the ball hitting the thigh pad. TV replays, however, clearly showed that there was no edge and the decision was overturned.
Liam Dawson too kept Seifert and Finn Allen quiet in the first four deliveries of the second over until the former swept the leftarm spinner for a boundary through deep square-leg.
At the other end, Archer seemed to be on song as he got the ball to swing, seam and bounce at great speed, but when he tried the slower ball, Finn clobbered it over mid-on for the game’s first six.
Finn was beginning to look dangerous and against Dawson, he went down the ground and timed his shot to perfection to get another six.
Taking a cue from his partner’s batting, Seifert too got into the act, and launched into Archer with a couple of fours and then pulled the England pace spearhead over midwicket for a six.
New Zealand have got the momentum now, forcing England captain Harry Brook to introduce Sam Curran into the attack from round the wicket.
Finn welcomed Curran with a maximum over mid-wicket as New Zealand ended the powerplay at 54 for no loss.
BRIEF SCORES: New Zealand 159/7 in 20 overs lost to England 161/6 in 19.3 overs (T Banton 33, W Jacks 32*, R Ravindra 3/19)