COLOMBO: Rehan Ahmed and Will Jacks smashed 44 off 16 balls to take England to a thrilling four-wicket T20 World Cup win in Colombo that denied New Zealand a guaranteed place in the semi-finals but kept Pakistan’s slender hopes alive.

New Zealand would have joined England in the knockouts with a win in their final Super Eights match and they scored 159-6 after opting to bat.

England lost wickets early and looked like they would be squeezed out at 117-6, needing 43 from the last three overs.

But Ahmed and Jacks took 22 off the 18th over from Glenn Phillips to tu­rn the match on its head. Ahmed blasted 19 off seven balls in his first T20 World Cup match alo­n­gside Jacks, who made an unbeaten 32 off 18, to see England to 161-6 with three balls to spare.

England will move on to a semi-final in Mumbai on Thursday against either India or the West Indies, who clash on Sunday to decide the final semi-final berth.

New Zealand now have to wait on the outcome of Saturday’s clash between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Kandy to know if they have qualified for a semi-final in Kolkata against South Africa.

Pakistan have an inferior run-rate so need to win by 65 runs or inside 13 overs to overtake the Kiwis and deny them a place in the final four. If Pakistan qualify then the semi-final would be played in Colombo.

England used five spinners to bowl 16 of the 20 overs on a turning track.

The 2010 and 2022 champions had never bowled so many overs of spin before in a T20 international.

Jacks returned the best figures with 2-23, while Adil Rashid picked up 2-28 and is now England’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 11.

Rashid was complemented by fellow wrist spinner Ahmed, who was called up in place of Jamie Overton, and took a wicket with his first ball before finishing with 2-28 from three overs.

Glenn Phillips top scored with 39 off 28 including four fours and a six while opener Tim Seifert scored 35.

Liam Dawson (1-32) and Jacob Bethell (0-13) were the other spinners employed by England.

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND:

T. Seifert st Buttler b Rashid 35

F. Allen c Bethell b Jacks 29

R. Ravindra c Bethell b Ahmed 11

G. Phillips b Jacks 39

M. Chapman st Buttler b Rashid 15

D. Mitchell c Jacks b Dawson 3

M. Santner not out 9

C. McConchie b Ahmed 14

M. Henry not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2) 3

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 159

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-64 (Seifert), 2-66 (Allen), 3-97 (Ravindra), 4-123 (Chapman), 5-133 (Mitchell), 6-135 (Phillips), 7-152 (McConchie)

DID NOT BAT: I. Sodhi, L. Ferguson

BOWLING: Archer 3-1-24-0, Dawson 4-0-32-1, Curran 1-0-10-0, Rashid 4-0-28-2 (1w), Jacks 4-0-23-2 (1w), Bethell 1-0-13-0, Ahmed 3-0-28-2

ENGLAND:

P. Salt c Seifert b Henry 2

J. Buttler c Seifert b Ferguson 0

H. Brook c Mitchell b Phillips 26

J. Bethell c Phillips b Ravindra 21

T. Banton c Chapman b Ravindra 33

S. Curran c Phillips b Ravindra 24

W. Jacks not out 32

R. Ahmed not out 19

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-1) 4

TOTAL (for six wkts, 19.3 overs) 161

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 (Salt), 2-2 (Buttler), 3-50 (Brook), 4-58 (Bethell), 5-100 (Curran), 6-117 (Banton)

DID NOT BAT: L. Dawson, J. Archer, A. Rashid

BOWLING: Henry 2.3-0-19-1 (1w), Ferguson 2-0-14-1, Santner 4-0-29-0, McConchie 1-0-13-0, Phillips 4-0-43-1, Ravindra 4-0-19-3, Sodhi 2-0-21-0

RESULT: England won by four wickets.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Will Jacks

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2026