Finally, England has confirmed its place in the World Cup Semi Final in their last group game. This will be their first world cup semi-final since 1992. New Zealand too has reached the semis because of their better run rate (in case Pakistan win against Afghanistan).
After winning the toss, England opts to bat first against New Zealand on a flat deck. The openers once again off to a flyer. The pair added 123 runs in 18 overs before Santner caught Roy (60). Bairstow brought up his second hundred (back to back) of the world cup in the 30th over. However, he got out just after reaching his hundred, second time in 2 games. The others chipped in with useful runs, helping England to cross 300 runs when they should have scored 400 with the kind of start they had.
England finished at 308 for 8 in 50 overs. Boult, Neesham, and Henry took two wickets each.
New Zealand had a poor start once again. This is quite amazing that a team has so many bad starts still able to reach semis. With 14 for 2 in 6 overs, Ross and Williamson had to build another partnership which could help them to chase the target, but both Taylor and Williamson lost their wicket in the space of 8 runs, and unfortunately, both got run out. This made it clear that the chase is over for them. Latham (57) was the only batsman who could survive and play a decent knock for the Kiwis.
New Zealand bowled out for 186 in 45 overs, with Mark Wood taking three wickets for England. Bairstow once again got the man of the match for his hundred.
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STATS
- Jonny Bairstow & Jason Roy are the second pair to register three consecutive 100+ partnerships in a World Cup after Tillakaratne Dilshan & Kumar Sangakkara in the 2015 edition.
- Jofra Archer has now taken 17 wickets in this tournament, the most by any English bowler in single edition of World Cup.
- England qualifies for the first time in semis since 1992.
