T20 Cricket World Cup
England kept its T20 Cricket World Cup ambitions alive by defeating New Zealand by 20 runs at the Gabba. England made 6-179, with skipper Jos Buttler scoring 73 after being dropped twice – on 8 and on 40. Glenn Phillips’ 62-ball 62 kept New Zealand in the chase until the last four overs.
However, when he was defeated by the brilliant Sam Curran, New Zealand’s aspirations were dashed. Everything now hinges on the last round of group one matches, with England finishing second, behind New Zealand but ahead of Australia on net run rate.
There must have been worries of another deluge as England awoke this morning to continuous rain and leaden sky. However, the clouds dispersed by mid-afternoon, and the ideal playing conditions drew a solid crowd of 22,547 supporters to the Gabba, 4,000 more than for Australia’s match against Ireland on Monday.
They were not disappointed either, as they saw a riveting battle between two high-quality squads. After losing the toss and being asked to field at the T20 Cricket World Cup, New Zealand seemed to be off to a fantastic start when Buttler appeared to be caught off Mitchell Santner in the sixth over after a magnificent diving effort from Kane Williamson at cover.
Buttler began to walk away, but replays revealed that the Black Caps captain had let the ball slide through his hands. T20 Cricket World Cup Buttler was on eight from eight balls at the time, and he punished New Zealand with a well-crafted 73, starting with an ambitious ramp shot to a Lockie Ferguson ball from outside off to fine leg.
Dropping Buttler was a mistake at the T20 Cricket World Cup. Dropping him a second time was just irresponsible. Daryl Mitchell was the guilty party the second time around, giving Buttler a third life for the innings by dropping an easy catch on the mid-wicket boundary off Ferguson when he was on 40.
Meanwhile, Alex Hales was slowly accumulating runs at the other end until he was stumped off Santner for 52 off 40, with Moeen Ali (5) at the T20 Cricket World Cup, who had been promoted to number three to cope with the spinners, falling soon after.
Buttler grew into his innings, hitting some magnificent boundaries off Ferguson (2-45) and Boult (0-40), before firing the latter over the sightscreen with a shot that would have been at home in the World Series at the T20 Cricket World Cup. Ferguson clean bowled Liam Livingstone for 20 after a 14-ball cameo, while Harry Brook (7) came and went in three balls before being caught by Finn Allen off Tim Southee.
England rode their luck at times, with skyed balls falling safe and brilliant balls flying over the stumps, but even with the two missed catches, New Zealand were somewhat off in the field. Buttler’s amazing stay was halted by outstanding work from Williamson, who ran out England’s captain at the non-strikers end after first saving a scorching shot from Ben Stokes at cover.
Buttler’s performance propelled him over previous captain Eoin Morgan to become England’s record T20I run-scorer, with 2,468 runs at the T20 Cricket World Cup. In the last delivery of the innings, Stokes was LBW to Ferguson for 8, then Dawid Malan raced three off a bad piece of fielding in the deep — scoring 179 on the same same strip that Australia reached the same total against Ireland the day before.
Buttler’s stellar performance with the gloves continued, as he took a diving grab to dismiss Devon Conway for a 9-ball 3 off a leg-side Chris Woakes delivery. Allen was the next to go, skying Sam Curran to Stokes at mid-wicket at the T20 Cricket World Cup. Concerningly for England, Stokes left the field immediately after injuring his left index finger — the same finger on which he had two operations in 2021 — but returned two overs later.
After the powerplay overs, England was modestly ahead (2-40 to 0-48) and kept that advantage through 10 (2-66 to 0-77) — but New Zealand got a major break in the 10th over when Ali lost a sitter. Phillips was on 15 off 10 when Ali carelessly shelled a sitter at mid-wicket off Adil Rashid’s bowling.
He also seemed to capitalize quickly, slamming a big six to long-on off a 152-kilometer-per-hour Mark Wood yorker. To add spice to Rashid’s wounds at the T20 Cricket World Cup, Phillips smashed two massive sixes when the England leg spinner came to the attack, reaching his 50 off 25 balls.
Stokes helped slow the flow of runs by having Williamson caught by Rashid for a run-a-ball 40, with Jimmy Neesham (6) following soon after when he was caught by Curran on the square leg boundary off the bowling of Wood, who again often clocked in excess of 150kph — peaking at 154.7kph.
Woakes and Curran were tasked with bowling the death overs at T20 Cricket World Cup, and in the 17th over, the former had Mitchell (3) caught on the long on rope by Chris Jordan — on for Livingstone — for 1-3.
The key wicket, though, came the next over, when Phillips holed out to Jordan for a stunning 62 off only 36 balls, leaving New Zealand’s last combination of Ish Sodhi and Santner with an ultimately unbeatable equation of 45 runs from 15 balls.
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