Black Caps bury England
Kiwis battle back to leave Collingwood's men on the brink
Last updated: 18th September 2007
Maddy: All-round contribution
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England's World Twenty20 hopes were left hanging by a thread after they slipped to a five-run defeat to New Zealand in Durban.
The Black Caps moved a step closer to booking themselves a spot in the semi-finals of the ICC tournament after managing to defend a total of 164.
Craig McMillan cracked a rapid half century to get his side out of trouble after they had slipped to 31-4.
Skipper Daniel Vettori (2-20) then starred with the ball to make sure England failed to get home, despite an even 50 for the recalled Darren Maddy.
Advantage
Just as they had done against South Africa in their last Super Eight match, England allowed their opponents off the hook after making early inroads.
James Anderson struck twice; firstly getting Brendon McCullum caught behind by stand-in wicketkeeper Vikram Solanki, who had to don the gloves due to Matt Prior's broken thumb.
The Lancashire seamer also had Ross Taylor caught at cover, with county colleague Andrew Flintoff striking in between when Peter Fulton was trapped lbw without scoring.
When Stuart Broad found the edge of Lou Vincent's bat to give Solanki his second catch, New Zealand were toiling.
Recovery
However, McMillan came in to bludgeon the Black Caps back on course, combining with Scott Styris in a crucial 60-run stand.
The pair were particularly savage on Dimitri Mascarenhas, the medium-pacer being hit for three sixes in one over.
Styris was eventually run out by a direct hit from the deep by Maddy, who then came on to claim two wickets in four deliveries - including the key wicket of McMillan for 57.
Vettori chipped in with an unbeaten 17 off nine balls to help his side post a challenging total, particularly considering their early predicament.
Fast start
England had no such problems against the new ball at the start of their reply, Maddy and Solanki putting on 62 at well above the required rate.
But once the opening stand was broken and the fielding restrictions were relaxed, boundaries proved harder to come by.
The fall of wickets at regular intervals did not help their progress, with Kevin Pietersen (24) going to an ill-advised reverse sweep against Vettori's spin.
With Flintoff run out in the same over it was left to Owais Shah and Luke Wright to briefly raise hope, only for three wickets to then go down in the penultimate over.
The run out of Shah for 21 was followed by the departures of Mascarenhas and Wright, both caught out in the deep by substitute Jeetan Patel.
Eventually England finished five runs short, and they now need an emphatic victory against India on Wednesday to have any chance of reaching the last four.
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Comments
Usha Padmanabhan says...
Take that you whinging poms. You were all gung ho about England beating India in the ODIS...forgetting that you had a 2 game advantage and still had to go to the last game at Lords to win the series... Furthermore, I heard the sky comperes laughing about kiwis batting only because it was against Yuvraj....before the match Mascerenas got the stick too....how the mighty have fallen.... India atleast has an excuse that the team has to undergo rebuilding again... what's yours?????
Posted 17:29 18th September 2007
Wayne Pugh says...
I'm sorry, but i think it's time that our regular key players, sat back and had a break. They need the rest, they looked tired, England have had a busy schedule with Test Matches & ODI's since winning the Ashes. No other country has played as many games as England. Also............... I think we need to have a look at the way the other teams play in the ODI's, like Sri Lanka & Australia. The openers attack nearly every ball, where as England blocks or leaves it. After the last to games against South Africa & New Zealand, we need to kill the game after getting such a good start. Why can't we kill the game off?
Posted 16:50 18th September 2007
Andrea Simmons says...
England are the laughing stock of world cricket. we go to the tournament with so called specialist 20/20 players and get hammered by all the top nations and only win one game!! nice going lads!!
Posted 14:14 18th September 2007
Steve Hobson says...
After watching England crash and burn again it's got me thinkin "are we actually any good at cricket" We invented 20-20 and are county 20-20 is amazing. Why don't England drop a couple of ther under achievers and see wat they do. It might just buck there ideas up. What was Pieterson doing, the run outs were poor, shah was unlucky, but where have the sixes gone. Why can't our tail enders hit sixes like every other team. I say drop the household names and bring in sum off the brilliant cricketers we have in the county championship(or do there names not fit as they are no known) Look at Steve Mclaren(he has got balls) dropped Beckham for poor displays and he came back evan stronger and better. Do the same in cricket it might give them the shock they need to get there bums in gear. All of Englands games in 20-20 so far have been embarrissing. Top players are getting to comfortable.
Posted 14:10 18th September 2007
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