New Zealand reaches semis with a thumping win over England

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: September 30, 2009

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Johannesburg: New Zealand came out on top against England in their final Group B match as they defeated England by four wickets to book a place in the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy.

New Zealand, by virtue of this huge win, ended up topping the group and knocking Sri Lanka out of the tournament. England is the other team from Group B to reach the semis with two wins from three games.

For once, England skipper Andrew Strauss lost the toss and was put into bat by Daniel Vettori and from there on it was all downhill for England as the surface provided plenty of assistance to the fast bowlers. England lost Strauss (0) on the second ball of the innings as he edged a rising delivery from Kyle Mills to wicket-keeper Brendan McCullum.

Unfortunately for England, returning speedster Shane Bond chose a big match to make an impact again as he terrorised the English batsman. Bond struck in back to back overs to leave England tottering at 13-3. Opener Joe Denly was his first victim as Bond rattled his stumps from an incoming delivery. And after that it was the turn of the hero for England in the last match, Owais Shah. Shah tried to get a ball, which was way outside off stump, away through square leg but could only manage to give a simple catch to McCullum.

Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan tried hard to provide some stability to the England innings adding 37 runs for the fourth wicket before Morgan (9) fell, caught by Ross Taylor at first slip off the bowling of Ian Butler. With wickets falling regularly at the other end, Collingwood (40) decided to counter-attack. He hit James Franklin for a six before falling to a spectacular catch by Taylor off the bowling of Elliot leaving England at 80 for 5.

From there on, England never got the chance to recover. Bopara (30) played a gutsy innings to take England past the 100 mark before he was caught plumb in front of the wicket by Bond to give him his third wicket of the day.

The last wicket pair of James Anderson (4 not out) and Ryan Sidebottom (20) put up some sort of resistance adding 29 runs for the final wicket to take England to 146 before Sidebottom became the last man to be dismissed as he chipped one straight to Taylor at mid-wicket off the bowling of Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori.

For New Zealand, Grant Elliot utilised the bouncy conditions to great effect as he ran through the middle order picking up 4 for 31 off 8 overs. Bond also returned with brilliant figures of 3 for 21 off 10 overs.

Chasing a modest total of 147 for victory, Martin Guptill and Brendan McCullum gave Kiwis a perfect start adding 84 in just 12 overs. After playing a brisk innings of 48 off just 39 balls which included 4 fours and 3 sixes, McCullum fell to Broad, caught by Bopara at point. After a flying start, New Zealand needed just 59 runs to win off just 37 overs, and Guptill, in the company of Neil Broom took up the onus of taking the Kiwis home.

But a procession of wickets gave New Zealand some jitters. Guptill saw a tame end to his classy innings in the 19th over, edging one to Graeme Swann at the first slip off Anderson. He struck seven fours and a six during his stay at the crease.

But it was Broad’s three wickets at later stages that made life little difficult for the Kiwis. He picked up Ross Taylor in the 20th over, caught at second slip by Swann, who dived full length to his right to take that with one hand inches from the ground and then followed it up with the wickets of Elliot and Gareth Hopkins, both edging to wicketkeeper Morgan.

Sidebottom too joined the fun scalping Broom (17 off 36) caught by Morgan in the 27th over with New Zealand needing just seven runs for victory. But skipper Daniel Vettori (10 not out) and James Franklin (2 not out) made sure that there were no more hiccups for the Kiwis as New Zealand reached home with more than 22 overs to spare. For England, Broad finished with figures of 4 for 39 off 8.1 overs.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand 147 for 6 (Guptill 53, Broad 4-39) beat England 146 (Collingwood 40, Elliott 4-31, Bond 3-21) by four wickets

Man of the Match: Grant Elliot

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