Abu Dhabi: New Zealand completed their revenge of the 50 Over World Cup against England beating them by 5 wickets in the semi-final ICC World T20 in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Daryl Mitchell smashed an unbeaten 47 ball 72 leading the charge for the Kiwis to chase down the target of 167 with an over to spare with Jimmy Neesham(27) and Devon Conway(46) playing useful hands as well.
However, things didn’t go to their way early on as they lost both Martin Guptill And skipper Kane Williamson early on and it looked the Kiwis would crumble again under pressure. Mitchell though kept the scoreboard ticking alongside Devon Conway(46) stitching a 82 runs stand though the asking the started to climb up.
As Conway got dismissed in the 14th over with Glenn Philips returning home as well a couple of overs laters, it looked it game over for the Kiwis who were reeling at 107/5.Needing 57 off the last four, Jimmy Neesham(27) completely changed the complexion of the game smashing England’s Chris Jordan for 23 in the 17th over.
Although he got out in the next over but already brought the game back at that moment as it came down to 20 off the last two. Chris Woakes(2/36) who bowled superbly in the first spell saw himself getting smashed twice for maximum which tilted the game towards the Kiwis. Mitchell, fittingly finished it off hitting winning boundary to confirm New Zealand’s first ever entrance to the final in their T20 World Cup history.
Earlier, England too stumbled badly at the start getting only 67 while loosing both their openers Jonny Bairstow(17) and Jos Butler(29) early. Dawid Malan joined hands with Moeen Ali in the rebuilding process although the Kiwi bowlers gave them absolutely nothing to work with.
The duo however, fought their way stitching a crucial 63 run stand to propel the innings in the middle overs. Malan got dismissed just when he started break the shackles for a well made 29 ball 41.Ali remained unbeaten till the end to bring up his first half-century of this tournament while anchoring the innings while Liam Livingstone’s(17) cameo added a late flourish towards the end to propel the Englishmen to 166/4 although New Zealand had pretty much dominated the majority of the game with Tim Southee(1/24) and Adam Mine(1/31) topping the charts.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 167/5 in 19 overs (Daryll Mitchell 72*, Devon Conway 46; Liam Livingstone 2/22) beat England 166/4 in 20 overs (Moeen Ali 51*, Dawid Malan 41; Tim Southee 1/24, Adam Milne 1/31) by 5 wickets.
