overcome New Zealand\u2019s net run-rate<\/a> advantage.<\/p>\nEngland\u2019s win against New Zealand at R Premadasa Stadium on Friday, was led by Player of the Match Will Jacks as the 2010 and 2022 champions\u2019 chase overcame their opponents\u2019 159-7.<\/p>\n
The early loss of openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler, leaving their side on 2-2 after eight balls, put England\u2019s chances of winning the match in doubt.<\/p>\n
When captain Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell fell in the space of eight runs to leave England 58-4 in the ninth, the Kiwis looked as though they might turn the screw.<\/p>\n
Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed (32 and 19) were the heroes to see it home for England in an unbeaten seventh-wicket partnership of 44.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on his fourth Player of Match award at the tournament, Jacks said, \u201cI reckon this is the best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m buzzing, to be not out at the end \u2013 when it was on a knife-edge when I went out there \u2013 I\u2019m over the moon.<\/p>\n
\u201cRehan played amazingly and put them on the backfoot, and I was able to play off him.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing into the semifinals, we feel in a strong position with three wins against three very good teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bat first, knowing a win would earn the Kiwis the second semifinal spot from Group 2.<\/p>\n
New Zealand, who have never won the T20 World Cup, fielded the same side that beat Sri Lanka comprehensively on Wednesday, while England, who had already qualified after beating Sri Lanka and Pakistan, bolstered its spin attack by recalling Ahmed in place of Jamie Overton.<\/p>\n
The decision may have been questionable when the Kiwis reached 64-0 after 6.5 overs. Ahmed\u2019s wrist-spin partner Adil Rashid stepped in, however, to have Tim Seifert stumped for 35 off 25, before off-spinner Will Jacks removed Finn Allen for 29 off 19.<\/p>\n
Over to Ahmed, who picked up the wicket of Rachin Ravindra with his first ball in World Cup cricket. Glenn Phillips topped up the total with 39 off 28 before he became Jacks\u2019 second wicket, while Rashid and Ahmed also went on to claim two scalps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen what Rehan can do in the nets, and he has gone out there and taken the game away from them,\u201d England captain Brooks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe said from the start of the competition that we will select players based on conditions, and we felt today was the day to bring Rehan in \u2013 he did an amazing job.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Africa has already qualified from Group 1. The second spot will be decided by the result of the match between India and the West Indies on Sunday. England will face the winner of that game in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already played against West Indies \u2026 both teams are very strong and powerful,\u201d Brooks added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still haven\u2019t played the perfect game, nor had the starts we would like with the bat and ball, but we have got over the line in some very tight games and in World Cups that can help you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Pakistan to leapfrog New Zealand and set up a semifinal against South Africa, they must either beat Sri Lanka by roughly 65 runs or more, or chase their target down in fewer than 13 overs. Both equations will be dependent on the outcome of the first innings of the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England seal top spot in Group 2 at T20 World Cup in Super Eights stage with four-wicket win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2300,1758,2024,2344,111,43,139,69,2476,2022,2025],"class_list":{"0":"post-306250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-asia-pacific","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-india","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-pakistan","17":"tag-sport","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}