England need 154 to win as Kiwis falter after great start
Agencies
Dhaka: England will need 154 to confirm their final berth as New Zealand scored 153/8 in the first semifinal battle of the ICC World Twenty20 at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday.
Sent in to bat first, New Zealand scored the figure in 20 overs spurred by the 2nd wicket stand of 74 runs in 8.2 overs between skipper Kane Williamson and Colin Munro.
The 2nd pair started from at 17/1 in 2.1 overs and departed at 91/2 in 10.3 overs as Williamson was caught and bowled by Moeen Ali.
Colin Munro fell short of four-run for a half century as he was caught by Moeen Ali off a Liam Plunkett bowling at 107/3 in 13.2 overs.
Munro’s tops-scored 46 witnessed seven boundaries and one six that came off 32 balls while Williamson was out for 32 off 28 balls, including three boundaries and one six.
Corey Anderson managed 28 off 26 balls, involving two boundaries and one six, before being caught by Chris Jordan off Ben Stokes delivery at 139/6 in 17.4 overs.
In the end, New Zealand collected only 19 runs in 3.3 overs for the cost of four wickets - Ross Taylor, Luke Ronchi, Corey Anderson, Mitchell Santner and Mitchell McClenaghan, from 134/4 in 16.3 overs to 153/8 in 20 overs.
David Willey made the first breakthrough for England dismissing opener Martin Guptill who was stumped by Jos Buttler at 17/1 in 2.1 overs.
Guptill stayed for 15 off 12 balls to be another double figure scorer for the side.
Ben Stokes grabbed three wickets for 26 runs in four overs. Moeen Ali, David Willey, Chris Jordan and Liam Plunkett took one wicket each for 10, 17, 24 and 38 runs respectively.