England's bowlers held their nerve in the face of a Kiwi onslaught to keep their World Cup dream alive in a hard-fought 20-run win at the Gabba.
The scene of so many horrors for English cricket down the years was a cauldron of joy for Jos Buttler and his side as they came through the first of two must-win matches with style. Their top order batting fired, their bowlers never let New Zealand get away, and thanks to the introduction of Chris Jordan as a substitute fielder for Liam Livingstone, they took the catches that mattered.
With 180 to defend on a decent deck in Brisbane, there was always the chance that New Zealand could have landed a mortal blow to England’s tournament. And while Glenn Phillips and Kane Williamson were busy putting on 91 in 10 overs the game was anyone’s for the taking.
But when Ben Stokes removed the Kiwis skipper for a run a ball 40 to open up an end, the rest of the bowlers poured through and stopped their big hitters at source to keep their destiny in their own hands.
The story of the game might have been the dropped catches that both teams suffered, with Jos Buttler being put down twice on his way to 73. And then Phillips was given a life on 15 when Moeen Ali dropped the easiest chance of the lot at cover - perhaps with the low stadium lights causing an issue.
In the end though it wasn’t a mistake that decided the game, instead it was the skills of Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran who did for the Kiwis as Jordan took two smart catches on the long on boundary. “You don’t become a bad team overnight and we’ve got some great players in our side,” said player-of-the-match Buttler, who also became England’s highest T20 run scorer in his 100th game.
“We have lots of confidence in what we can do, we came out tonight and left it all out there. Everything is in our hands. You have to win games against the best teams in the world in a ruthless tournament like this and this is a good win.
“We bat deep and can take it on. The wicket was a bit tricky. Alex Hales played a good innings at the other end and gave us a good start and that allowed us to get away.”
After so long spent kicking their heels off the field thanks to the poor weather and with just training sessions to release the tension, they finally got back out into the middle and back to how they know they can play. Hales dominated an opening partnership of 81 with Buttler and took a liking to Tim Southee in particular with 15 from the 5th over that started with the first six of the innings.
Buttler should have departed from the next, bowled by Mitchell Santner, but Kane Williamson’s attempted catch after a full length dive running back hit the turf. He claimed the grab, only for replays to show Buttler could continue.
And even though Williamson made an obvious apology to his opposite number, chants of ‘are you Aussies in disguise?’ rang around the Gabba. Initially happy to sit in Hales’ slipstream Buttler scooped Lockie Ferguson for his first six, and took a real shine to the express pace of the Kiwi by taking 14 from his next over.
In between though, New Zealand’s spinners showed that there was something in this pitch for them, playing its third match. Santner had Hales stumped off a wide for 52, even though the umpire curiously didn’t call it, while Ish Sodhi did for Moeen Ali for just five as his swish to long on failed to clear Boult and the rope.
Their combined figures of 2-48 from their eight overs were terrific in the circumstances, and provided a good guide for Buttler to start with Moeen with the ball. Strangely for New Zealand their fielding wasn’t so terrific with Daryl Mitchell dropping Buttler for a second time when he had made 40.
Livingstone, who had been prowling around the dugout and the boundary edge as if he were getting ready for a world title boxing match, entered the fray at number four for a quickfire 20 from 14 balls. All the while though Buttler was making hay which was a good job too because it was so hard for new batsmen to get going, and it proved to be enough in the end.
