Trans Tasman Tri-Series, NZ vs ENG, 6th T20I, Review: England eliminated despite winning the thriller by 2 runs

England have beaten New Zealand by two runs in a virtual semi-final of the ongoing tri-series across the Tasman.  Despite losing, the hosts have set up the finals date with their arch-rivals Australia now who are on a four-match winning spree in the tournament. The visitors needed to win the match by at least 20 runs against the Kiwis to qualify for the final. However, it was the breezy knock from Colin Munro which set them back early on in the innings and also dashed their hopes of qualifying for the final.

Munro took the attack to England bowlers right from the word go by hitting some monstrous sixes during his stay in the middle. He whacked the ball to all the parts of the ground and scored 57 off just 21 deliveries with 3 fours and 7 gigantic maximums. He was scalped by Adil Rashid soon after the powerplay but the damage had been done at the top. Martin Guptill stuck it out early on despite struggling to middle the ball.

Liam Dawson castled the opposition skipper Kane Williamson to bring some interest in the game. But the partnership between Guptill and Mark Chapman sealed any hopes of England of qualifying for the final. Both added 64 for the third even as the opener smashed yet another half-century in the series. He was eventually bowled by David Malan for a well-made 62 off 47 balls.

The match went until the last over courtesy Chris Jordan who bowled an excellent penultimate over and left Tom Curran with 12 runs to defend. He conceded three off the first three balls after which Chapman managed to eke out a boundary to bring the equation down to 5 off 2. But Curran bowled excellent lines as Colin de Grandhomme and his partner could only add a couple more runs and eventually fell short of the target by just two runs.

Chapman remained unbeaten on 37 but would be disappointed about the fact that he failed to take his team over the line. The spinners Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson bowled beautifully and conceded only 49 runs in combined 8 overs during their spell. However, it was the efforts of Chris Jordan and Curran which won them the game in the end as England finally got on board only to get eliminated from the series.

What happened earlier?

Earlier, the home side opted to bowl first after winning the toss as Mitchell Santner returned to the side after recovering from his injury. The openers Alex Hales and Jason Roy fell early much to the delight of home supporters. The skipper Eoin Morgan and Malan resurrected the innings then only to launch the assault on the hosts. The latter in particular was more brutal as he hit 5 sixes in his 53-run knock off 36 balls.

However, it was Morgan who helped his team post a huge total on the board by scoring an unbeaten knock of 80 runs in 46 balls. His innings was studded with 4 fours and whacked the ball into the crowd six times. In the end, England managed to post 194 runs for the loss of seven wickets after 20 overs. Trent Boult picked three wickets but also conceded 50 runs in his four-over spell. Tim Southee was excellent as he also picked 2 wickets and more importantly went for only 22 runs.

The score proved to be just enough in the end as the thriller was won by the visitors by just 2 runs. Though they failed to qualify for the final as they had to restrict New Zealand under 175 to face Australia on Wednesday. Eoin Morgan was named Man of the Match for his valiant knock on his return to the team.

Brief Scores

England 194/7 after 20 overs (E Morgan 80*, D Malan 53; T Boult 3/50)

New Zealand 192/4 after 20 overs (M Guptill 62, C Munro 57; A Rashid 1/22, L Dawson 1/27)

Result: England won by 2 runs

Man of the Match: Eoin Morgan