Fine service from England skipper Jos Buttler in T20 World Cup match against New Zealand

Brisbane, November 1

England survived Glenn Phillips’s late onslaught to beat Group 1 leaders New Zealand by 20 runs in a major boost to their semifinal hopes at the T20 World Cup here today.

England skipper Jos Buttler led by example and smashed 73 while Alex Hales made 52 to power the 2010 champions to 179/6 after electing to bat in the crucial Super 12 contest. Phillips threatened to pull off an audacious chase for New Zealand, bashing 62 off 36 balls, but he had little support from anyone barring skipper Kane Williamson (40).

New Zealand are still top of Group 1 on superior net run rate, followed by England and Australia, with all three level on five points.

“You don’t become a bad team overnight,” Buttler said of their rocky campaign after collecting his Player of the Match award. “We had a poor performance, but we’ve got some great players in our lineup, some really dangerous players and a lot of confidence still in the group. I thought we came out tonight and left it all out there.”

It was a must-win match for England following their defeat by Ireland and the abandonment of last week’s encounter with defending champions Australia.

Hales accelerated after relatively quiet four overs, hitting Tim Southee for a six and two boundaries in a rematch of last year’s semifinals, which New Zealand had won. At the other end, Buttler was on eight when he began to walk off after Williamson appeared to have taken a diving catch at cover. Replays, however, confirmed the ball had burst through the fielder’s hands and hit the turf before a tumbling Williamson clutched it against his chest.

Hales fell immediately after completing his fifty and Buttler got another reprieve at 40 when Daryl Mitchell dropped him at deep mid-wicket. Buttler went on to overtake Eoin Morgan as England’s most prolific batsman in T20 Internationals before being run out in the penultimate over.

Brief scores: England: 179/6 in 20 overs (Buttler 73, Hales 52; Ferguson 2/45); New Zealand: 159/6 in 20 overs (Phillips 62, Williamson 40; Curran 2/26).

SL knock out Afghanistan

Earlier, former champions Sri Lanka knocked out Afghanistan with a six-wicket victory. Spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (3/13) led Sri Lanka’s disciplined bowling as the Asia Cup champions restricted Afghanistan to a modest 144/8 in the Group 1 contest at the Gabba ground.

Dhananjaya de Silva smashed an unbeaten 64 to help the Lankans prevail with nine balls to spare and revive their campaign after back-to-back defeats to Australia and New Zealand.

Brief scores: Afghanistan: 144/8 (Gurbaz 28; Hasaranga 3/13); Sri Lanka: 148/4 in 18.3 overs (De Silva 66*; Mujeeb 2/24). — Agencies