ICC T20 World Cup 2021, New Zealand vs England: The first semifinal was a thriller. Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten innings get New Zealand the ticket to the finale. Revenge of the 2019 World Cup final.
In an important match, Men in black were blessed with the toss situation putting England batting first. England moved consciously in the opening phase looking to take the innings deep. In the absence of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow opened the innings but could not survive the powerplay.
The pitch was a bit sluggish right from the start. England were trying hard to run away with the score, however, lost Jos Buttler in that process. First ten overs of the innings were quite dull from England’s point of view but the positive was that they had wickets in hand.
The partnership between Moeen Ali and Dawid Malan changed the game completely. Temperature dropping and wicket settling down batting became competitively easy. Malan anchored the innings while Moeen Ali played his usual way. The recent IPL would have helped a lot to Moeen Ali under some quality leadership and staff of Chennai Super Kings.
When Malan departed in the 16th over, 150 was an elusive score. However, Livingstone’s little cameo shifted gears to put New Zealand onto the backfoot. Moeen Ali provided them with enough firepower to reach 166 runs. Also thanks to some errors from the NZ fielding department which aided England a lot.
The leg spinner, despite starting well in his first overs finished the game with the wicket of Jos Buttler and gave away 32 runs. He is yet to go home without a wicket in this T20 World Cup 2021 edition. Some Wonderful performances against Pakistan and India have helped a lot to his side.
Southee, Milne, and Neesham are the other wicket-taker in this innings. Trent Boult was expensive giving 10 runs per over. Mitchell Santner only bowled one over because Moeen Ali was on the crease. That is the reason why Kane Williamson is so dangerous while leading the side.
Defending this under par score, England were on their toes ready to roll. Giving two huge blows to Men in Black by Chris Woakes extended their momentum. Guptill and Williamson failed to run the show in an important fixture.
Next came Devon Conway who did what he did against Afghanistan. He built a superb partnership with the opener Daryl Mitchell of 83 runs to frustrate England. However, the Golden Arm for England, Liam Livingstone got two wickets in quick succession to get England back in the driving seat.
The wicket of well-set Devon Conway was the game-changer. England was eager to quickly finish the overs. However, James Neesham entered the arena doing what his team needed the most. He started to punch the opponent hard to reduce the gap between run and ball.
Neesham’s 27 runs cameo in just 11 balls was sufficient to get the match close. Two overs to go and 20 runs to win was the equation. Morgan gave the ball to Chris Woakes who was the star of the show today continue his highlights.
The game however was finished with one over remaining. Daryl Mitchell blasted 20 runs with two huge sixes and a boundary to close the match and take revenge for 2019’s World Cup finals.
The favorite to win the title, England fought hard but the toss disadvantage was too much to handle. Watch England vs New Zealand, ICC T20 World Cup 2021 highlights.
ICC T20 World Cup 2021, New Zealand vs England: post match interview.
Daryl Mitchell:
“It was a little whirlwind and I am just happy to get the job done in the end. The pitch was two-paced at the start and the innings by Conway set the platform and Neesham with his hitting from ball one helped them. We wanted to hand in there and we knew that one or two good overs will help us to get the job done. It is cool to have my family here watching the game.”
Eoin Morgan:
“Coming into the game we knew that both sides were really good and Kane and his team played wonderfully. We fought really hard in the tournament and even in this game, but it wasn’t our day. It is hard to identify the key moments where we lost the game but feel that we lost the momentum in the last few overs. It was a sluggish wicket and offered a bit to the spinners but we hung in there to put a par score. Neesham came and hit sixes straightaway it is a difficult thing to do on this type of surface. I love playing for England and I hope to play the next T20 World Cup in 2022.”
Kane Williamson:
“We have played England on several occasions and we knew it was going to be a great game of cricket. England had a good total on the board but staying in the game was the key. Daryl Mitchell showed a great character today and also throughout the tournament. We were a little bit behind the curve but the momentum shifted at the right time. James Neesham’s knock was valuable and it was ultimately the deciding factor for us. We will be watching the second semi-final and we expect a fantastic match. we know we have another challenge coming up and we will focus on that.”
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