ICC World Cup 2019: Match 41, England vs New Zealand, Review – The Brits and the Kiwis drown Pakistan in the well

By winning the game against New Zealand, England sealed a knockout place. Moreover, what this win has done is it put Pakistan under serious trouble. Even though the Kiwis lost this game, they don’t have much problem as they are the frontrunners courtesy a better NRR. This means that Pakistan will have to register a humungous victory against Bangladesh which seems highly impossible.

England proceeded ahead with their tried and tested approach of batting first after winning the toss. Yet again, the openers laid a wonderful 123-run partnership setting up a solid platform. Jason Roy raced his way through another fifty in the tournament but was dismissed when he was on 60. However, his partner Jonny Bairstow carried on just from where he left off in the last match.

The 29-year-old registered his second consecutive ton in the tournament. But like in the last game, he couldn’t convert that century into a big one. He was dismissed by Matt Henry when he was on 106. There were small, yet valuable contributions from the other batsmen in the line-up. Skipper Eoin Morgan was the next highest scorer with 42 runs. Ben Stokes, however, never seemed to have got going in the game after registering three consecutive half centuries.

He crawled his way to 11 runs off 27 balls that slowed down the proceedings. Thus, England couldn’t get to a score they would’ve wanted midway through the innings. The hosts, in the end, finished with 305/8 which proved to be quite good enough.

New Zealand struggle to get anywhere close

When you are reduced to 14/2 chasing such a massive target, it is never really easy. While Henry Nicholls was dismissed for a golden duck, Martin Guptill could only score 8. What was more miserable is that New Zealand lost both their match-winners in the form of run-outs. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor were caught short of the crease and scored 27 and 28 runs respectively. The New Zealand skipper was backing up a little too much when Mark Wood got a little finger on the ball in his follow through.

James Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme couldn’t stick around for too long either. The former scored 19 runs off 27 balls before Mark Wood shattered his stumps. De Grandhomme got out to a dismal shot at a crucial situation in the game for 3 runs putting the team in trouble. Just as New Zealand were staring at an ugly loss, Tom Latham came to the rescue. The out-of-form batsman finally found his touch back and scored 57 off 65 balls.

While he did narrow down the margin of loss, Latham couldn’t make it a huge score. New Zealand kept losing wickets regularly once he fell. The team was bundled out for 186 in 45 overs resulting in a 119-run loss. Mark Wood picked up three wickets.

Brief Scores

England: 305/8 in 50 overs (Jonny Bairstow 106, Jason Roy 60; James Neesham 2/41)

New Zealand: 186/10 in 45 overs (Tom Latham 57, Ross Taylor 28, Mark Wood 3/34)

Result: England won by 119 runs

Man of the match: Jonny Bairstow

Here is the Points Table: