England defeat New Zealand by 20 runs in Males’s T20 Cricket World Cup in Brisbane

England has saved its T20 World Cup hopes alive with a tense, 20-run victory over New Zealand on the Gabba.

Skipper Jos Buttler scored a sensational 73, having been twice dropped — on 8 and on 40 — as England made 6-179.

Glenn Phillips’ magnificent 62 off 36 balls saved New Zealand within the chase till the ultimate 4 overs.

Nonetheless, when he fell to the wonderful Sam Curran, New Zealand’s hopes evaporated.

The end result means every part rests on the ultimate spherical of matches in group one, with England second, behind New Zealand and forward of Australia on web run price.

When England awakened this morning to persistent rain and leaden skies, there will need to have been fears of one other washout, which might have been virtually terminal for his or her probabilities of development.

Nonetheless, the clouds spent themselves by mid-afternoon and the proper taking part in circumstances ended up drawing a wholesome crowd of twenty-two,547 individuals to the Gabba, 4,000 greater than Monday’s match between Australia and Eire.

They had been to not be disenchanted both, witnessing an exhilarating tussle between two high-quality groups. 

After dropping the toss and being requested to area, New Zealand virtually bought off to an ideal begin when Buttler appeared to be caught off Mitchell Santner within the sixth over after a surprising diving effort from Kane Williamson at cowl.

Buttler began strolling off however replays confirmed that the Black Caps skipper had let the ball slip by way of his palms.

With Buttler on eight from eight balls on the time and he made New Zealand pay with a well-crafted 73, hitting his first six with an audacious ramp shot to a Lockie Ferguson ball from exterior off to positive leg.

Dropping Buttler as soon as was unlucky. Dropping him a second time was simply careless.

Daryl Mitchell was the responsible get together the second time round as Buttler gained a 3rd life for the innings, shelling a easy catch on the mid-wicket boundary when he was on 40 off Ferguson.

In the meantime, Alex Hales was steadily compiling runs up the opposite finish earlier than he was stumped off Santner for 52 off 40, with Moeen Ali (5), promoted to quantity three to cope with the spinners, falling shortly after.

Buttler continued to develop into his innings, hitting some luxurious boundaries off Ferguson (2-45) and Boult (0-40), earlier than dispatching the latter over the sightscreen with a shot that may haven’t regarded misplaced within the World Sequence.

Liam Livingstone’s 14-ball cameo ended when he was clear bowled by Ferguson for 20, and Harry Brook (7) got here and went in simply three balls earlier than being caught by Finn Allen off Tim Southee.

England rode their luck at instances as skyed balls fell secure and glorious balls flew previous the stumps, however even accounting for the 2 dropped catches, New Zealand had been barely off within the area.

It was glorious work although from Williamson that ended Buttler’s excellent keep, working out England’s skipper on the non-strikers finish after first stopping a blistering drive from Ben Stokes at cowl.

Buttler’s innings noticed him transfer previous former skipper Eoin Morgan as England’s main run-scorer in T20I cricket, with 2,468 runs.

Stokes fell LBW to Ferguson for 8 within the penultimate ball of the innings, earlier than Dawid Malan ran three off a poor piece of fielding within the deep — making 179 on the identical used strip that Australia scored the identical whole in opposition to Eire the day prior. 

Buttler’s glorious night time continued with the gloves, taking a diving catch to dismiss Devon Conway for a 9-ball 3 off a leg-side Chris Woakes supply.

The harmful Allen was subsequent to fall, skying Sam Curran to Stokes at mid-wicket.

Concerningly for England, Stokes immediately left the bottom with an damage to his left index finger — the identical finger he had two surgical procedures on in 2021 — however he returned two overs later.

England had been marginally forward after the powerplay overs (2-40 to 0-48) and held that lead by way of 10 (2-66 to 0-77) — however New Zealand caught an enormous break within the tenth over when Ali dropped a sitter.

Phillips was on 15 off 10 when Ali casually shelled a sitter at mid-wicket off the bowling of Adil Rashid.

He regarded to capitalise immediately, too, smashing an enormous six to long-on off a 152 kilometre-per-hour Mark Wooden yorker.

To rub additional salt into the injuries of Rashid, Phillips slogged two huge sixes when the England leg spinner returned to the assault, reaching his 50 off 25 balls.

Stokes helped halt the avalanche of runs when he had Williamson caught for a run-a-ball 40 by Rashid, with Jimmy Neesham (6) following shortly after when he was caught by Curran on the sq. leg boundary off the bowling of Wooden, who was frequently clocked in extra of 150kph — peaking at 154.7kph.

Woakes and Curran had been charged with bowling the loss of life overs, and the previous had Mitchell caught on the lengthy on rope by Chris Jordan — on for Livingstone — for 3 in an over that price simply 3.

Nonetheless, the large wicket got here the next over when Phillips holed out to Jordan for an excellent 62 off simply 36 balls — leaving New Zealand’s last pairing of Ish Sodhi and Santner with an in the end unassailable equation of 45 runs from 15 balls.

Earlier within the day, Sri Lanka saved their slim hopes alive with a six-wicket victory over Afghanistan on the similar venue.

Sri Lanka should beat England on Saturday and hope for different outcomes to fall their manner with a purpose to progress, whereas Australia will likely be counting on a Sri Lanka victory ought to they beat Afghanistan on Friday.

Afghanistan are out of the event, however a slim defeat, coupled with an England victory would spell the top of Australia’s marketing campaign.