BRISBANE: Skipper Jos Buttler praised the character of his England side as they breathed new life into their Twenty20 World Cup on Tuesday.

Buttler played a key role with the bat in a crucial 20-run win over New Zealand at the Gabba, which propelled England into the top two of Group 1 with one round of matches left.

The Black Caps, last year’s beaten finalists, still top the group but they, England and Australia are all now on five points.

Hosts and holders Australia are third and in real danger because of their vastly inferior net run rate. Only the top two sides go through to the semi-finals.

New Zealand play Ireland and Australia face already eliminated Afghanistan on Friday as the fight for the last four goes down to the wire.

England, who along with the hosts were the pre-tournament favourites, clash with Asian champions Sri Lanka the next day.

Buttler led by example and smashed 73 while Alex Hales made 52 to power the 2010 champions to 179-6 after electing to bat in the crucial Super 12 contest.

Glenn Phillips threatened to pull off an audacious chase for New Zealand, bashing 62 off 36 balls but had little support from anyone barring skipper Kane Williamson (40).

Buttler said their clinical performance made up for a shock defeat earlier in the Super 12 stage to Ireland.

“Really proud of the guys tonight, to come out with freedom and express ourselves with our talent, I was really proud of the character we showed,” said the captain.

“You don’t become a bad team overnight. We had a poor performance, but we’ve got some great players in our lineup, some really dangerous players and a lot of confidence still in the group. I thought we came out tonight and left it all out there.”

Buttler, who won the toss and chose to bat against a side who could have sealed a spot in the last four with victory, added: “Having not played our best [until now], we were desperate to show that today.”

Buttler said it was to England’s advantage that they play the day after Australia in the fight for a semi-final spot.

“There’s a bit of a benefit playing that last game to know exactly what’s required of us. We’re going to expect a really tough game against Sri Lanka.

“But we’ll go to Sydney full of confidence,” Buttler added.

It was a must-win match for England following the abandonment of last week’s encounter with champions Australia.

Hales accelerated after relatively quiet four overs, hitting Tim Southee for a six and two boundaries in a rematch of last year’s semi-finals which New Zealand had won.

At the other end, Buttler was on eight when he began to walk off after Williamson appeared to have taken a diving catch at cover.

Replays, however, confirmed the ball had burst through the fielder’s hands and hit the turf before a tumbling Williamson clutched it against his chest.

Hales fell immediately after completing his fifty and Buttler got another reprieve at 40 when Daryl Mitchell dropped him at deep mid-wicket.

Buttler went on to overtake Eoin Morgan as England’s most prolific batsman in T20 Internationals before being run out in the penultimate over.

New Zealand were 66-2 at the halfway stage in their reply and Moeen Ali made a costly mistake dropping Phil­lips when the batter was on 15.

Phillips, who smashed a century against Sri Lanka on Saturday, gleefully capitalised on the reprieve to reach his fifty in 25 balls.

Ben Stokes broke the 91-run stand when he ended Williamson’s run-a-ball knock and England were effectively assured of victory when Phillips holed out in the deep in the 18th over.

Williamson rued the dropped catches that allowed Buttler to pummel the New Zealand attack.

“One of the, if not the, best players in the game, so you don’t want to be doing that,” he said of his counterpart.

“And if you do he’s going to make you pay, and he did that today.”

Standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no result, points, net run-rate)

Group 1:

New Zealand 4 2 1 1 5 2.233

England 4 2 1 1 5 0.547

Australia 4 2 1 1 5 -0.304

Sri Lanka 4 2 2 0 4 -0.457

Ireland 4 1 2 1 3 -1.544

Afghanistan 4 0 2 2 2 -0.718

Group 2:

South Africa 3 2 0 1 5 2.772

India 3 2 1 0 4 0.844

Bangladesh 3 2 1 0 4 -1.533

Zimbabwe 3 1 1 1 3 -0.050

Pakistan 3 1 2 0 2 0.765

Netherlands 3 0 3 0 0 -1.948

England v New Zealand
Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

J. Buttler run out 73

A. Hales st Conway b Santner 52

M. Ali c Boult b Sodhi 5

L. Livingstone b Ferguson 20

H. Brook c Allen b Southee 7

B. Stokes lbw Ferguson 8

S. Curran not out 6

D. Malan not out 3

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-1, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 179

DID NOT BAT: C. Woakes, A. Rashid, M. Wood

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-81 (Hales), 2-108 (Ali), 3-153 (Livingstone), 4-160 (Brook), 5-162 (Buttler) Bowling: Boult 4-0-40-0 (1w), Southee 4-0-43-1, Santner 4-0-25-1, Ferguson 4-0-45-2 (1nb), Sodhi 4-0-23-1

NEW ZEALAND:

D. Conway c Buttler b Woakes 3

F. Allen c Stokes b Curran 16

K. Williamson c Rashid b Stokes 40

G. Phillips c sub (Jordan) b Curran 62

J. Neesham c Curran b Wood 6

D. Mitchell c sub (Jordan) b Woakes 3

M. Santner not out 16

I. Sodhi not out 6

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-5) 7

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 159

DID NOT BAT: T. Southee, T. Boult, L. Ferguson

FALL OF WICKET: 1-8 (Conway), 2-28 (Allen), 3-119 (Williamson), 4-126 (Neesham), 5-131 (Mitchell), 6-135 (Phillips)

BOWLING: Ali 1-0-4-0, Woakes 4-0-33-2 (1w), Rashid 4-0-33-0, Curran 4-0-26-2 (3w), Wood 3-0-25-1 (1w), Livingstone 3-0-26-0, Stokes 1-0-10-1

RESULT: England won by 20 runs.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2022