England whip NZ to cruise into first semi-final since 1992
CHESTER-LE-STREET: England qualified for the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in 27 years on Wednesday with a crushing 119-run win over New Zealand, who are also effectively heading to the playoffs despite a third straight loss.
Jonny Bairstow’s second century in a row helped England to 305-8 off its 50 overs at the Riverside Ground, and the Black Caps never looked like chasing down the target after the run-outs of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in successive overs left them 69-4.
New Zealand were eventually dismissed for 186 and leapfrogged in the standings by England, who will end the group stage in third place. The tournament hosts will play in the second semi-final, at Edgbaston in Birmingham next Thursday (July 11), against the team that finish in second place, currently India.
England, who entered the tournament as the world’s top-ranked team, marched into the semi-finals following morale-restoring consecutive wins over India and New Zealand.
New Zealand, who had lost to Pakistan and Australia before heading to Chester-le-Street for the league closer, are almost set to play in the first semi-final at Old Trafford in Manchester on Tuesday when they will have to find momentum from somewhere.
New Zealand are currently two points ahead of fifth-place Pakistan, whose final league game is against Bangladesh at Lord’s on Friday, but are highly unlikely to lose their place in the top four because of a far superior net run-rate (+0.175) than Pakistan’s -0.792.
England enjoyed two strokes of fortune in a match they needed to win to guarantee a semi-final spot.
The first was winning the toss on a pitch that slowed and broke up as a sunny day wore on, making batting increasingly difficult.
Bairstow and fellow opener Jason Roy (60 off 61 balls) enjoyed a third straight century stand before it was broken at 123, giving England a platform for a shot at a massive total.
But from 194-1, England lost Joe Root (24), Bairstow and Jos Buttler (11) in a 19-ball spell to slump to 214-4, and the boundaries began to dry up.
Skipper Eoin Morgan’s 42 off 40 balls helped to inch his team past 300, but New Zealand were back in the contest after restricting England to only 111 runs in their last 20 overs.
That was until the early loss of openers Henry Nicholls (0) and Martin Guptill (8) was compounded by Kane Williamson New Zealand’s rock and captain getting sent back to the pavilion by the harshest of ways.
Ross Taylor played a straight drive that glanced off the fingertips of bowler Mark Wood and onto the stumps, with Williamson out of his ground at the non-striker’s end. After a lengthy look at the replays, Williamson was given out for 27.
Taylor departed for 28 the next over after choosing to go for a risky second with the ball heading to Adil Rashid at fine leg. Rashid’s throw was pinpoint and Jos Buttler removed the bails with Taylor short.
Once a 54-run partnership between Tom Latham (57) and Jimmy Neesham (19) was ended, New Zealand were simply delaying the inevitable by mostly blocking out to ensure the team’s net run rate wasn’t too affected.