Last night the English were handed a handsome pounding in the hands of the Kiwis and were knocked out of the world cup. On paper, England was favorites to lift the trophy with absolute T20 superstars in their batting line-up. On the other hand, the New Zealand squad did not look menacing or dominating.
However, they put up a clinical show and came up trumps against the English. This win should give a lot of people around the world a sense of justice. The match was not as tight as the 2019 ICC ODI world cup which England won by the barest of margins. However, the Kiwis did have a score to settle, and what better way to do it than an ICC world cup knockout game.
New Zealand took the revenge from England of 50 overs World Cup
With the win, the Kiwis move to the finals and should expect one of Pakistan or Australia to meet them there. The England cricket team will be back home on their next flight. They faced a hammering in the match and lost by 5 wickets. The Kiwis chased down 166 with an over to spare and 5 wickets in hand. Daryl Mitchell was the star of the show with his man-of-the-match performance. He scored 47 balls 72 and was the main anchor for the team.
We look at 5 reasons that compounded the woes for England and resulted in their loss.
1. No show from Jonny Bairstow
England has a ballistic batting line-up. From their openers down to no. 8 are all explosive batsmen and therefore, batting is never an issue for the team. However, yesterday arguably their best white-ball batsman did not show up for duty. Bairstow opened the innings but could only manage 13. More importantly, he got the 13 in 17 balls and ate up a lot of balls. The team missed out on capitalizing on the important power-play overs.
2. Losing wickets at the wrong time
Bairstow was out in the last over of the power-play when England was 37. He opened the innings with another English superstar, Jos Butler. In less than 3 overs from dismissing Bairstow, the Kiwis got Butler’s wicket in the 8th over. Therefore, England was tottering at 53 for 2 and losing both their openers in the span of 3 overs and 15 runs. Post that, Moeen Ali and David Malan had to stabilize the ship and could not go top gun.
3. Wrong team combination
England missed the trick by losing Jason Roy to injury. In their last league game against South Africa, Roy suffered an injury and had to sit out. Therefore, Butler and Bairstow had to open with Malan walking out at one drop. England would have been a far more ferocious side had Roy and Bairstow opened and Butler at one drop. This opening combination has performed spectacularly for England and also won them their only world cup.
4. Bowlers going for plenty
England managed only 166 in their 20 overs which is not enough for a T20 game involving a quality squad like New Zealand. In response, the English bowlers had to be disciplined and tight with the run flow. On the contrary, 4 of the 5 bowlers went for more than 8.50 runs an over. Chris Jordan went for 31 in his 3 overs, Chris Woakes went for 36 runs in his 4 overs and Adil Rashid gave away 39 runs in his 4 overs. With so many runs being leaked, there was little chance for the English to defend the total.
5. Absence of the big names
England has been a changed side in the last 5 years. They have changed their playing style and attitude and that has helped them reach the top of limited-overs cricket. The biggest contributors of this change have been Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. Both have not participated in the world cup for different reasons. A team in a knockout match requires players of their caliber who can soak in the pressure at the big stage and steer the team towards a win. England missed the two impact players.
