England have beaten New Zealand by 20 runs to keep their T20 World Cup hopes alive, with Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and substitute fielder Chris Jordan all starring.
After deciding to bat first after winning the toss, England got off to an absolute flier with Alex Hales leading the charge. The opener bludgeoned seven boundaries inside the powerplay as England reached 48-0, while captain Buttler cashed in after a more sedate start and two drops.
Having made just 10 off 11 inside the powerplay, Buttler finally got going with a magnificent scooped six off Lockie Ferguson and ended up scoring his 18th T20I half-century. Hales, meanwhile, was stumped off Mitchell Santner just one ball after bringing up his 11th T20I fifty, while England's decision to promote Moeen Ali up the order failed to pay off as he holed out for five.
However, Buttler continued motoring as he struck an excellent 73 off 47, with Liam Livingstone playing a useful cameo with 20 of 14 as England posted 179-6. It was a much-improved batting performance, with England striking more boundaries in this innings (21) than their previous two games combined (15).
In response, New Zealand were unable to get off to a flier, with both Devon Conway and Finn Allen falling in the powerplay to Woakes and Curran respectively. However, Williamson and Glenn Phillips kept New Zealand in the game with a partnership worth 91 runs.
Phillips benefitted from an inexplicable Moeen drop when he was on 15 and continued his excellent form with 62 off 36, having struck a century in his last innings against Sri Lanka. The 25-year-old regularly found the boundary and ran hard between the wickets, but was simply left with too much to do at the end.
After Williamson fell to Ben Stokes for a run a ball 40, Mark Wood dismissed the dangerous Jimmy Neesham for six and Daryl Mitchell holed out off Woakes for three. With New Zealand needing 49 off 26 to win, Phillips failed to clear the fence off Curran in the 17th over and became the second player to be caught by substitute fielder Jordan as they fell 20 runs short.
Buttler cashes in after two lifelines
After two failures against Afghanistan and Ireland, the England skipper made it count against New Zealand as he struck 73 off 47. It was an excellent knock from Buttler, who became England's all-time leading T20I run scorer in his 100th game.
However, things could have been very different if New Zealand had taken their catches, with Buttler twice put down. The first was an incredibly difficult diving chance which popped out of Williamson's hands as he landed, but would have been a crucial breakthrough with Buttler on just eight at the time.
The second was a much easier chance, with Mitchell dropping Buttler on the deep midwicket boundary on 41. And the drops proved costly, with Buttler top scoring for England and helping them reach 179-6.
Moeen's promotion
New Zealand's spinners have been very impressive so far this tournament, having picked up combined figures of 8-102 at an average of 12.75 before this game. The Kiwis would have been tempted to bring in off-spinner Michael Bracewell with England having three left-handers in their middle order.
However, the presence of Moeen as one of those left-handers is likely what made them decide against it as, while Malan and Stokes have middling records against off-spin, Moeen averages over 30 and strikes at almost 150.
He was rightly promoted to number three to try and attack Santner and Sodhi and, although the move did not pay off with Moeen dismissed for just five, it is the kind of proactive decision England did not really make in their first two games and something they should persist with.
England utilise match ups
England enjoyed great success by tinkering with their bowling plans and looking to exploit specific match ups. They opened the bowling with Moeen's off spin, despite him not bowling a single ball all tournament, and also introduced leg-spinner Rashid in the powerplay as they looked to get the most out of a surface that was conducive to spin.
And the pair conceded just four and six respectively, with Moeen almost getting Conway out stumped. England also decided to introduce Curran in the powerplay, despite his emergence as a key bowler at the death.
This was done to directly combat the dangerous Allen, who bludgeoned 42 off 16 in the crushing win over Australia but has a poor record against left-arm seam in the first six overs. And England duly exploited that, with Allen holing out off Curran for 16.
Phillips fires after dropped catch
Although New Zealand came up short, Phillips threatened to drag them over the line with an excellent half-century. He is currently the leading run scorer among batters who did not feature in the first round and struck an excellent 62 off 36 balls.
He did benefit from an almost inexplicable drop by Moeen when he was on 15, with the all-rounder failing to get a hand to a simple chance at cover. Luckily for England, it did not cost them the game as they closed out the innings brilliantly at the death.
"We gave it our best shot but they bowled really well and were the better team today," Phillips told BBC Test Match Special. "I think on a big ground, trying to chasing 16s in the last three overs is tough. We had our plans in mind and tried to take it as deep and as close as possible but the way England stuck to their bowling plans made it tough for us to have any massive overs."
England's redemption
At last year's World Cup, England were knocked out in the semi-finals by New Zealand after an assault at the death from Mitchell and Neesham. However, in this must-win game, England delivered at the back end with Wood, Woakes and Curran coming to the fore along with substitute fielder Jordan.
In the last five overs, England conceded just 36 runs and picked up three wickets, with danger man Phillips falling to Curran and both Neesham and Mitchell getting out cheaply.
And Jordan, who conceded 23 runs in the 17th over of last year's semi-final, took two crucial catches on the boundary to remove Mitchell and Phillips after being introduced as a substitute fielder for Livingstone.
