England v New Zealand World T20 1st Semi-Final - 5 Talking Points

Undefeated New Zealand took on confident England in the 1^st semi-final encounter of the World T20 2016 at Delhi. New Zealand, being the table toppers of their group and having won all their games so far, were known for picking horses for courses in the tournament. England, on the other hand, showed a herculean effort to reach the semis after losing their first game to West Indies.

Having won the toss, England opted to bowl first. The decision paid off as Martin Guptill departed early. Colin Munro and Kane Williamson then led the fight back to give a strong base to the innings. Once the wicket of Williamson fell, the players fell like ten-pins and could never recover. From being 89/1 in 10 overs, New Zealand could manage just 153/8 in their 20 overs.

Chasing a below par score by all sorts, England started off with a bang as Jason Roy tormented the bowlers with sheer power hitting. Roy brought up his half century and was dismissed on 78 off 44 balls. A minor hiccup in the chase occurred when Eoin Morgan got out for a golden duck. But Joe Root and Jos Buttler steered their side to a 7-wicket win and reach the finals. Buttler’s 32 runs came off just 17 balls.

1. Munro-Williamson counter-attack:

New Zealand were rocked back early in the innings when David Willey got rid of Martin Guptill in the third over of the match. Colin Munro joined the skipper Kane Williamson at the crease. While Williamson took his time to settle at the crease, Munro was quick to lead the counter attack with powerful shots. Munro played the reverse sweep to perfection and carved sixes out of them. He was lucky to get boundaries of the inside edges too. In no time, the scorecard took an upsurge and the Kiwis were poised comfortably at 89/1 in 10 overs. However, the counter attack led by the duo was halted by Moeen Ali in the 11th over when Williamson top edged one to land the ball right back in the bowler’s hand. Williamson scored 32 off 28 balls. Munro couldn’t do much either after that and was dismissed on 46 off 32 by Liam Plunkett.

2. Batting collapse:

New Zealand were set for a big score after a solid start from Munro and Williamson. The New Zealand think tank expected the total to go as far as 200 with the base being set and the big hitters to arrive next. However, once the wicket of Williamson fell, no other batsman could apply themselves at the wicket and the wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals. Corey Anderson scored 28 but never looked comfortable during his 23-ball stay. Veteran batsman Ross Taylor was dismissed cheaply on 6. Big hitters down the order, Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott, could manage just 3 and 4 respectively. From being 134/3 to 139/6, the Kiwis lost the wickets when the big shots should have come their way.

3. Stokes’ spell:

Ben Stokes turned out to be the unlikely hero with the ball for England on the night of the semis. Having conceded 20 runs in his first 2 overs, Stokes came back strong to bowl his next two giving away just 6 runs and picking up 3 key wickets. Stokes was instrumental in choking the New Zealand batting in the death overs. He dismissed Corey Anderson and soon picked up the wicket of hard hitting batsman Luke Ronchi. He got rid of Mitchell Santner in the last over of the innings to return with figures of 3/26 in his four overs.

4. Last 5 overs of Kiwi innings:

The most talked about point of the Kiwi innings was their batting slump, more importantly the last five overs. Kiwis were scoring at 8 runs per over up until the 15th over of the match. The last five overs, when the big shots are often expected to come, saw only 32 runs being scored at a low run rate of 6.2. Credit has to be given to the English bowlers for bowling with precision in the last 5 overs. The English bowlers, who went helter-skelter in the early part of the innings, came back superbly to choke the opposition in the end. What didn’t aid their cause was that none of their big hitters in the lower middle order clicked on the night when it mattered.

5. Roy and Buttler blow New Zealand away:

Defending 153 never looked in control for the New Zealand bowlers as England opener Jason Roy had his plans for the night. Roy smoked the bowlers all around the park right from the word go. The same was evident when the openers Jason Roy and Alex Hales put up a 50-run stand in just 26 balls. The powerplay yielded 67 runs for the English team and Jason Roy had cleared his intentions by then. Roy brought his half century and looked set for his maiden T20 century before getting dismissed on 78. His 78 runs came off just 44 balls with 11 boundaries and 2 sixes. He was unlucky not to have finished the game for his side and to have missed out on scoring a century. He was dismissed in the 13th over by Ish Sodhi as the ball kept low and took his bails off. Sodhi created a bit of scare by picking 2 wickets in 2 balls and the Kiwi bowlers brought the run rate down too. But Jos Buttler seized the win for England by hitting 2 powerful sixes down the ground in the 17th over and finished off with another six in the next over to help England win by 7 wickets and reach the finals.

How did the match pan out? – World T20 2016 1st Semi-Final Review: Bowlers, Roy take England to the summit clash