ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Super 12, Group 1, England vs New Zealand: Jos Buttler's 73, Glenn Phillips' 62 and Sam Curran's 2-26 are top performances as England beat New Zealand in Super 12s game at The Gabba. England move to 2nd spot in points table.
Brief Scores: England 179/6 (Buttler 73, Hales 52, Sodhi 1/23) beat New Zealand 159/6 (Phillips 62, Williamson 40, Curran 2/26) by 20 runs
Player of the Match: Jos Buttler (73 runs in 47 balls)
Super-confident New Zealand who have won two big games against Australia and Sri Lanka besides their one washout game against Afghanistan, locked horns with England who after their washout game against Australia were searching for two vital points. The 12th Group 1 game of the Super 12 stage was held at the Gabba in Brisbane on Tuesday.
England lead by a 13-8 margin over New Zealand in the shortest format of the game.
Struggling Williamson hurt New Zealand in the chase
Chasing 180, New Zealand didn’t start well with the bat but their captain Kane Williamson’s struggle as he scored just 40 runs in 40 deliveries, in the process killing all the momentum, hurt New Zealand in their effort. He needs to get back his lost rhythm quickly.
On the flipside of the coin, England began wildly with a rollicking opening partnership which was mostly managed by Alex Hales as they brought up 81 runs in 10.2. This partnership laid the platform for a good score and allowed the other batters to come and go from the very first ball.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 1, NZ v SL: Phillips 104, Boult 4-13 help New Zealand maintain pole position
Bold England earn two valuable points with commanding victory
England captain Jos Buttler on winning the toss opted to bat first on a track which looked good for a commanding score. Both sides went into this game with an unchanged eleven.
Both England openers went wild from the beginning to build a great platform for the team to manage an opening partnership of 81 runs in 10.2 overs, before New Zealand made a slight comeback to keep them on 125/2 in 15 overs. With fireworks added by some sloppiness in the field by the Blackcaps, England raced away to 179/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
New Zealand didn’t begin well with just 40/2 in the powerplay, before being at 66/2 in 10 overs. While Kane Williamson was struggling for runs, Glenn Phillips was trying his best to keep New Zealand in the game as they reached 123/3 in 15 overs, but some wise bowling from England in the end saw them winning the game by 20 runs.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between England and New Zealand in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Jos Buttler show of 73 runs blew away New Zealand
In a vital game for England, they needed their world-class opener and captain Jos Buttler to put up a great show in the evening against a top side like New Zealand and Buttler played a superb knock.
When his partner Alex Hales was smashing the bowlers in the powerplay, Buttler was smartly giving him the strike as he was on just 10 in 11, getting a life from his opponent number Kane Williamson who dropped a difficult catch.
Buttler moved across to scoop Lockie Ferguson over the fine leg region for a six before nailing a slog sweep against Ish Sodhi to collect a boundary over the man stationed at backward point. With the dismissal of Hales, Buttler changed gears soon and went for a reverse sweep to find another boundary over the short third fielder.
He then made some room and slapped Ferguson over mid-off before pulling him off the backfoot in front of square for another boundary; Buttler has now scored 22 T20I runs in 10 balls against Ferguson with three fours and one six without getting dismissed.
With a single, Buttler raised his bat for his 18th T20I fifty in 35 balls in his 100th game. He hammered Trent Boult over his head before pulling him behind square on the on-side for back-to-back boundaries. He drilled the same bowler over the umpire’s head for a six as he becomes the first T20I wicketkeeper batter to hit 100 sixes.
Jos Buttler was dismissed through an unlucky run out on 73 in 47 balls with the help of seven boundaries and couple of maximums. He now has 2468 T20I runs in 100 games and he went past Eoin Morgan (2458 runs) in this game, becoming the leading run-scorer for England in T20Is.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 1, Aus v NZ: Conway 92*, Southee 3-6, Santner 3-31 help NZ smother Aus at SCG
Glenn Phillips tries hard with his 62-run knock
Chasing a huge score of 180, New Zealand struggled early to be at 28/2 in five overs as England managed to grab the game hard. Glenn Phillips fresh from his century in the last game against Sri Lanka made his way into the middle.
He got a 155 kmph bullet from Mark Wood on his first ball as an inside edge took it away to the boundary behind the leg stump before he cut a short ball from Liam Livingstone through the backward point region. With his captain Kane Williamson struggling to get the rhythm, Phillips decided to go wild.
He stood tall and flicked Mark Wood for a huge six over the long-on region for a six. He also took on Adil Rashid and smacked two successive sixes off the spinner to record his seventh T20I fifty in 37 balls. He punished Ben Stokes over the fine leg region for a boundary before being dismissed in an attempt to fire up.
Glenn Phillips who managed 62 runs in 36 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes now has 1272 T20I runs in 52 games.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 1, ENG v AFG: Despite Curran's brilliant 5-10, scratchy Eng crawl to victory
Curran-Woakes duo broke New Zealand’s back with combined figures of 4/59
Defending 180 on a good batting surface, England needed to pick up early wickets to slow down New Zealand and their pace bowlers did the job for them.
On the last ball of his first over, Chris Woakes drew first blood with the wicket of Devon Conway on 3 who in going for a big shot got an edge as Buttler grabbed a superb jumping catch. Sam Curran too in his first over earned the big wicket of Finn Allen (16) who scooped a short ball straight into the hands of Ben Stokes.
Coming back for his third over, Woakes sent back Daryl Mitchell (3) who in trying to smack a slower ball saw substitute fielder Chris Jordan take a good catch in the long-on region. In the very next over, Sam Curran bagged the huge wicket of Glenn Phillips on 62 who miscued a straight shot as Jordan grabbed another catch.
Sam Curran who now has 37 T20I wickets in 32 games, finished with figures of 2/26 in his four overs; while Chris Woakes who now has 25 T20I wickets in 23 games, ended with 2/33 in four overs.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 1, IRE v ENG: Ireland beat 2nd-ranked side in T20Is, England at MCG
ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 Group 1 Points Table
Point Table Scenario & What’s Next
With a vital win under their belt, England have risen to number two position in Group 1 with five points and a net run rate (NRR) of 0.547, while New Zealand even after the loss stay at the top of the group with a NRR of 2.233. Australia are down to the number three position with five points and a NRR of -0.304.
New Zealand will next face Ireland at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide on November 4, while England will meet Sri Lanka in their last group game at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on November 5.
Read More: T20 World Cup 2022: Two washouts in a day at MCG push Group of Death (Group 1) onto ventilator mode
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