Daryl Mitchell and James Neesham powered New Zealand to a stunning five-wicket victory over England on Wednesday, helping the Black Caps advance to their maiden final of T20 World Cup.
Needing 57 off the last four overs, Neesham clobbered 26 off just 10 balls before Mitchell anchored New Zealand to 167-5 with an unbeaten 73 off 48 balls and an over to spare.
England, which had scored 166-4 on the back of Moeen Ali’s unbeaten 51 off 37, seemed in control until Chris Jordan returned to bowl the 17th over, when New Zealand turned the tables on the favorite.
“We had wickets in hand which was really important,” New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said. “Neesham came out and hit the ball hard, changed the momentum of the game.”
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Neesham hammered the fast bowler for two sixes and a four in an over which went for 23 before both batsmen smashed leg-spinner Adil Rashid for a six each in the following over.
Although England sneaked back when captain Eoin Morgan caught Neesham off Rasheed at covers, Mitchell thumped Chris Woakes (2-36) for two sixes before raising the victory with a flicked four to fine leg.
Mitchell struggled to play his shots on a sluggish wicket, but he hung in with Devon Conway (46) in a crucial 82-run stand before anchoring the chase in style with Neesham.
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“A bit of a whirlwind, nice to get the job done and move on to the big dance,” Neesham said as his father watched from the stand at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. “It’s a game of momentum, we knew we needed one or two big overs … for my dad to travel halfway round the world and be here is pretty cool.”
Woakes had made early inroads in his first two overs when Martin Guptill and Williamson top-edged and gifted two easy catches as New Zealand slipped to 2-13.
England didn’t allow Mitchell and Conway to score freely with Liam Livingstone (2-22) bowling an impressive spell in the middle overs and even got the wickets of Conway and Glenn Phillips.
But Neesham’s clean hitting followed by Mitchell’s superb finishing denied England a second successive appearance in the final.
Earlier, after being put in to bat, England missed the injured batter Jason Roy up front. In-form Jos Buttler (29) looked to settle for another big knock but played an extravagant reverse sweep against Ish Sodhi and was out leg before wicket in the ninth over.
Wicketkeeper Conway dropped a low catch on his left which could have dismissed Dawid Malan (41) on 10 in the next over before the left-hander went on to add 63 runs with Ali.
But New Zealand’s best bowler Tim Southee (1-24) broke the stand when he had Malan caught behind off an inside edge as England struggled to find boundaries in the last five overs.
“Full credit to Kane and his team, they outplayed us today,” Morgan said. “I can’t fault anything that we’ve done tonight, we’ve fought hard and represented ourselves well, but come up short tonight.”
Morgan, who led England to the top of Group 1 with four wins from five games, complimented the efforts of Neesham while lamenting the fact that his team couldn’t hit big shots in the death overs.
“We posted a par score and felt in the game at the halfway side,” he said. “To have the ability to hit sixes from ball one (like Neesham), full credit to him.”
The final is Sunday. New Zealand will meet the winner of Thursday’s semifinal match between Australia and Pakistan.
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