Abu Dhabi, Nov 10 (FN Agency) New Zealand pulled off a coup, knocking out heavyweights England and making it to their third consecutive ICC tournament final. In a chase of 166, New Zealand were behind the asking rate for a large part of the innings but found the hitting power in the final overs, to finish the game off with an over to spare and erasing some ghosts of the past.
New Zealand’s chase was fully encapsulated in Mitchell’s innings. He found the going tough initially, plodding his way to 28 off his first 27 balls and nearly pulling New Zealand into a rut on a sluggish pitch. But off the last 20 he faced, he smashed 44 dragging the game away from England rather rapidly. He hit two sixes each off Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid in his upward surge at clutch moments. And finally finished it with a boundary to remain unbeaten on a memorable 72, making sure his name wasn’t to be forgotten soon.
In a game of many, one stood out and it came in that fateful (fantastic) Jordan over at the death. Neesham uppishly flicked a full delivery towards cow corner. Bairstow covered the distance from long-on, took the catch and flicked the ball towards the onrushing Livingstone. Replays, though, showed that he had touched the advertising cushions while in possession of the ball. It rekindled memories of the 2019 World Cup final between these sides, where Boult was central to a rather similar moment.
Brief Scores: England 166/6 (Moeen Ali 51, Dawid Malan 41); New Zealand 167/5 in 19 ov (Daryl Mitchell 72, Devon Conway 46)