England 179-6 (Buttler 73, Hales 52, Ferguson 2-45) defeated New Zealand 159-6 (Phillips 62, Curran 2-26, Woakes 2-33) by 20 runs in their T20 World Cup match on Tuesday, 01 November 2022.
England moved to the top 2 of the group 1 points table by pushing Australia to the third spot and enhanced their chance of making to the semis after beating Black caps by 20 runs. Jos Buttler with the help of his pace attack stopped the kiwis at 159-6, Buttler played an aggressive knock. Whereas, Curran and Woakes took care of the bowling department by taking 2 wickets each.
England won the toss and elected to bat. On the pacy pitch of Gabba, England gets off with a steady start. Both the openers looked calm and composed and anchored 81 runs opening partnership. Mitch Santner provided kiwis with a much needed first wicket in the 11th over. With constant wickets falling on the other end, it was Jos the Boss who helped England get par. About New Zealand’s bowling attack, it was Lockie Ferguson with 2 wickets and Ish Sodhi who didn’t give the batting side a chance to get away easily, Sodhi bowled his four over with an economy of 5.8. whereas, every other kiwi pace bowler sounded expensive.
Unlike the English side, kiwis didn’t start very well with the main run scoring batsman Devon Conway went early for only 3 runs. Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson played a slow innings of 40(40). With almost entire top batting order going back to the pavilion with low scores, Glenn Phillips took the charge an d scored a quick 62(36) with strike rate of 172. But this quick bash was not enough for the kiwis to get over the line. Almost all English bowling line-up being economical, it was Chris Woakes and Sam Curran who took the winning chances away from the kiwis, both taking two wickets. Additionally, Mark Wood and Ben Stokes also took one wicket each. This led to New Zealand’s first defeat of the tournament so far.
Glenn Phillips came at the crease at the final overs of the powerplay and gets his first runs courtesy of an edge that runs away for four. His intent was clear, to get going from the very first bowl, this statement justifies his strike rate of 172. Phillips took on Adil Rashid for 15 runs in 14th over. Phillips gave the kiwi fans a hope to get them over the line, but Sam Curran gets the big fish as he bowls in the slot and Phillips goes for the big slog, but miscues and goes straight up in air. Chris Jordan takes a good catch. A well-played quick bash from a future kiwi batting star.
Man of the Match
Jos Buttler the winning skipper is also the man of the match for his 73 runs in just 47 deliveries. He says that they had a poor performance in the previous game but they had the belief to turn things around. Adds that in these tournaments you expect to be under pressure and it can be ruthless as we saw South Africa going out despite winning four out of five games in the last world cup. Mentions that the wicket was tricky and praises Alex Hales for his knock. Also, credits Moeen Ali for the way he bowled and put the New Zealand under pressure. Further says that, they were aiming for 160-165, but they were happy to go beyond that. Ends by saying their focus will be to win against Sri Lanka.
