PTI
Colombo
England rode on Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed’s pyrotechnics to fight back from the brink and register a stunning four-wicket win over New Zealand in their T20 World Cup Super Eights match
here on Friday.
The result kept Pakistan’s hopes of a semifinal berth alive and they will look to win against Sri Lanka on Saturday, as the net run rate comes into play. England, who were already through to the semifinals before Friday’s victory, topped Group 2 with three wins from as many matches.
Asked to bowl first, England’s spinners restricted a scratchy New Zealand to 159 for seven.
In reply, England were in trouble at 117 for six in 17 overs and needing 43 runs from 18 balls. But Jacks (32 not out off 18 balls) and Rehan Ahmed (19 not out off 7 balls) pummelled Glenn Phillips for 22 runs in the 18th over to bring the equation down to 21
from 12 balls.
The duo of Jacks and Ahmed then took 16 off Mitchell Santner to put England on top heading into the final over. In the end, England completed the chase with three
balls to spare.
This was after Jacks (2/23), Adil Rashid (2/28) and Rehan Ahmed (2/28) stifled the New Zealand batters in the middle overs after their pacers were
smashed around.
Glenn Phillips (39 off 28 balls), Tim Seifert (35 off 25 balls) and Finn Allen (29 off 19 balls) were the main contributors with the bat for New Zealand.
