The all-important game, the first of the two semi finals went underway between England and New Zealand on a two paced wicket. England went out to bat with their premier opener Jason Roy sitting out because of injury. Johnny Bairstow who was opening in place for him, did his best to emulate Roy by trying to get boundaries from the get go, but trying to force runs on a tacky pitch proved to be his downfall as he was caught at mid-off.
Buttler and Malan tried to consolidate a partnership, with the latter trying to up the ante with some gorgeous drives and cuts through the off side and confident looking pulls through midwicket. Moeen Ali joined him and went at it from ball one. The left handed from Worcestershire was timing the ball exquisitely as he pumped Sodhi, Boult and the likes for huge sixes. He raced to 51 off 37 deliveries and remained unbeaten at the end. Liam Livingstone also joined the party and scored at a ferocious rate, scoring 17 off 10 balls to get England to a defendable total of 166/7.
The NZ chase started off poorly as their experienced opener Martin Guptill’s leading edge was found by Chris Woakes. In his second over of his opening spell, Woakes also got the huge wicket of skipper Kane Williamson, who was caught by Rashid trying to ramp over short-fine leg. The in-form opener Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway strung together a much-needed partnership, with Mitchell continuing his rich vein of form from the previous games. The partnership finally ended in the 14th over when part-timer Liam Livingstone dismissed Conway for 46. Glenn Phillips followed him soon after, toe-ending one straight under long-off’s throat. Livingstone ended with possibly match-winning figures of 2/22, which put England well and truly in the driver’s seat.
In came Jimmy Neesham. With 60 required in just 4.5 overs, he had a huge task at hand. He was up-against death over specialist Chris Jordan who had kept things tight in his first spell and given away just 8 off his 2 overs. This wasn’t to be the case in his 3rd over as Neesham bludgeoned him over midwicket the very first ball. The over conceded another six and a boundary, as the Kiwi left-hander scored 23 in Jordan’s 3rd over. It can be argued that Chris Jordan should’ve gone over-the-wicket and tried to bowl wide yorkers, away from the arch of the dangerous Neesham. That over proved to be a game-changer. It was only after hitting another biggie that Neesham perished to Rashid.
With 20 needed off two overs, Daryl Mitchell decided he only needed one over as he pumped Woakes for clean blows in the penultimate over and took New Zealand to yet another ICC final. Mitchell’s knock was reminiscent of Grant Elliot’s match winning knock, which also happened in a semis, in the 2015 WC. This win would’ve been a sort of redemption of the agony of losing against England in the WC final of 2019. New Zealand have had a memorable 2021. Their consistency of making it to the finals is respectable, and it will be interesting to see if they can win their third ever ICC trophy when they play the coveted final on Sunday.
-Vibhor Dubey
The Average Cricketer 