80 Thursday November 11 2021 | the times
SportT20 World Cup: Semi-final
from the final ball Neesham holed out to
Morgan. Mitchell, accepting the baton,
blasted the second and third balls of the
19th over into the stands and the game
was all but done.
The fine margins were highlighted
on the fourth ball of the 17th over, when
Neesham launched Jordan into the
deep. Bairstow, sprinting round from
long on, dived and parried the ball into
the hands of Livingstone, sweeping
around to help. It was a brilliant
attempt, and for a moment it looked
like a potentially match-winning catch,
until replays showed that Bairstow’s
knee had touched the boundary rope
while he was in contact with the ball.
Earlier, in the 13th over, Jordan almost
pulled off a similarly spectacular save
on the boundary edge.
It was a fine, flawed game of short-
form cricket, but that was little consola-
tion to Morgan. He said he and his team
were “devastated” — a reflection of
their high hopes. New Zealand can look
forward to another World Cup final,
their third in six years after the 50-over
finals of 2015 and 2019. Few would
begrudge them their moment now.There was drama, all right. It was not
the spectacle of the World Cup final of
two years ago — how could it be? — as
there was no Super Over to shred the
nerves of those involved, but there were
so many pulsating moments, not least
when Jonny Bairstow and Chris Jordan
made agonisingly close attempts at a
catch and save on the boundary edge,
showing unbelievable new-age athleti-
cism and demonstrating once again
how fine the margins can be.
Those margins went against New
Zealand on that epic day at Lord’s, but
they were with them in Abu Dhabi, as
first Daryl Mitchell, a man thrust into
an opening experiment at the begin-
ning of this tournament, and then
Jimmy Neesham, who had been at the
heart of the Super Over at Lord’s, broke
English hearts with a match-winning
partnership that ended Eoin Morgan’s
dream of holding two World Cups
simultaneously.
Mitchell, watched by his father, John,
the former All Blacks coach, needed to
show the kind of iron will and nerve
that Ben Stokes had displayed for
England at Lord’s. Struggling to find his
rhythm and tempo after the early loss
of Martin Guptill and Kane William-
son, Mitchell hung in, took the game
deep, until eventually encouraged by
Neesham’s dash and verve, he found his
six-hitting game again. He hit only one
boundary in the first ten overs of New
Zealand’s reply, but ended with a rash of
them to ease his team home.
He finished the game with a swipe for
four off Chris Woakes’s final ball of the
19th over and celebrated with the man-
of-the-match award shortly after-
wards. But it is doubtful that New
Zealand would have won without
Neesham’s intervention. Arriving at the
crease with his team needing 59 off 29
balls, Neesham hit his second ball for
six, took 23 off the 17th over bowled by
Jordan and spurred Mitchell into
action by striking the ball as no one else,
up to that point, had been able to. His
evident belief was contagious.
England suffered a loss of nerve and
skill in those final overs, not as dramati-
cally as they had against West Indies in
Kolkata five years ago, but it was notice-
able nonetheless. There was some dew,
enough maybe to encourage the ball to
skid off the surface, but not enough
surely to define the game. After
England had set a fair total of 166 on a
sluggish and two-paced pitch, they con-
trolled the second half of the game for
long periods until the final four overs,
when the game was snatched away.
England’s innings was a scrappy
affair. Moeen Ali’s half-century, which
came up in the last over off 34 balls, un-
derpinned the total, but even this most
natural timer of the ball found the mid-
dle of the bat elusive for long stretches.
That said more about the pitch, and the
clever variations from New Zealand’s
bowlers than Ali, but his contribution
was the vital thread that stitched the
innings together. At the halfway mark,
England felt they had enough.
England’s powerplay produced 40
runs and the wicket of Bairstow, who
was short of dash on his return to the
top of the order. There was early swing
for Trent Boult and Tim Southee, and
Bairstow never really got going before
trusted to bowl four overs by Morgan in
the middle phase of the game, contrib-
uting the wickets of Conway, stumped
off a beautifully delivered slider, and
Glenn Phillips. They had both begun
the process of restoring New Zealand’s
position after Woakes had inflicted
some early damage with the new ball,
including a wicket maiden.
Livingstone bowled a fine 16th
over, conceding only three runs and
taking the wicket of Phillips, and at
that point the final beckoned for
England, with the require-
ment an unlikely 57 runs
from four overs. Unfortu-
nately for England, Phil-
lips’s exit brought Neesh-
am’s entrance and his
blistering 11-ball innings,
including three sixes,
changed the game. After
Jordan’s expensive 17th over,
the 18th, from Adil Rashid,
went for 14 more, althoughhe holed out driving Adam Milne’s first
ball to a diving Williamson at mid-off.
New Zealand’s fielding has been excep-
tional throughout the tournament and
their captain leads by example.
Dawid Malan started slowly before
hitting four dreamy drives to the
extra-cover boundary. Looking to
caress rather than club the ball,
Malan is a gorgeous driver and
he enjoyed the width that New
Zealand’s bowlers allowed him.
Ali, always floating in the
order in this tournament,
came in at No 4 when Jos
Buttler missed a reverse-
sweep off the leg spinner
Ish Sodhi, and he and
Malan took the score to
116 by the 16th over, when
Malan edged behind
attempting a heave to leg.
Liam Livingstone came to the
wicket bristling with intent.
Livingstone had a good
evening. He unleashed one
huge six off Milne and pro-
vided impetus to the end of
the innings. He was thenJordan’s third over —
England’s 17th — went for
a match-defining 23 runsI still want
the game. Throughout both innings,
everybody struggled to clear the ropes
on both sides. You have to take your hat
off to him, he played really well.
“To take two big wickets as early as
we did, you feel ahead. They’re trying to
steady the ship and we managed to keep
them at bay for quite some time, so they
did well to wrestle back momentum
and put themselves in a commanding
position. We threw everything at them
and Liam [Livingstone] was brilliant. I
wouldn’t change anything. Everything
worked right up until the point Neesh-
am played a fantastic cameo in high-
pressure circumstances.
“We have played against Jimmy a lot
and he’s not struck the ball like that
against us ever, so it’s really good bat-
ting.”
But Morgan reiterated his desire to
lead the side into the next T20 World
Cup, in Australia next year. Asked if hecontinued from back
England suffer a failure of
Scoreboard
ENGLAND R B
†J C Buttler
lbw b Sodhi
Reverse sweeps; hitting middle2924J M Bairstow
c Williamson b Milne
Drives on the up to mid-off13 17D J Malan
c Conway b Southee
Gets under-edge on short ball4130M M Ali
not out51 37L S Livingstone
c Santner b Neesham
Full and wide; swipes to long off17 10*E J G Morgan
not out4 2Extras (lb 2, w 9) 11
TOTAL (20 overs; 4 wkts) 166
Did not bat S Billings, C Woakes,
C Jordan, A Rashid, M Wood
Fall of wickets 1-37, 2-53, 3-116, 4-156
Bowling Southee 4-0-24-1; Boult
4-0-40-0; Milne 4-0-31-1; Sodhi 4-0-32-1;
Santner 1-0-8-0; Neesham 2-0-18-1;
Phillips 1-0-11-0.Umpires K Dharmasena (SL) and
M Erasmus (SA)
Man of the match D Mitchell (NZ)NEW ZEALAND R B
M J Guptill
c Ali b Woakes
Leading edge to mid-on4 3D J Mitchell
not out72 47*K S Williamson
c Rashid b Woakes
Scoops to short fine leg5 11†D P Conway
st Buttler b Livingstone
Skips down; beaten on inside46 38G D Phillips
c Billings b Livingstone
Spoons full-ish ball to long off2 4J D S Neesham
c Morgan b Rashid
Slashes off back foot to cover27 11M J Santner
not out1 1Extras (b 1, lb 4, nb 1, w 4) 10
TOTAL (19 overs; 5 wkts) 167
Did not bat A Milne, T Southee, I Sodhi,
T Boult
Fall of wickets 1-4, 2-13, 3-95, 4-107, 5-147
Bowling Woakes 4-1-36-2; Jordan
3-0-31-0; Rashid 4-0-39-1; Wood 4-0-34-0;
Livingstone 4-0-22-2Abu Dhabi (New Zealand won toss):
New Zealand beat England by five
wicketsEngland v New Zealand
Mike Ather ton
Chief Cricket
Correspondent,
Abu Dhabi
The 17th over: where
it all unravelled
New Zealand needed 57 from four overs, and England were strong
favourites. But Chris Jordan’s over went for 23 runs — England’s
most expensive of the tournament — leaving New Zealand
needing a more manageable 34 runs from three overs.Ball one
Jimmy Neesham smashes it over midwicket............................................... 6Ball two
On a length fired in at Neesham’s pads, the ball deflects behind
square. Jos Buttler chases after it but can’t stop it...............2 leg byesBall three
Round the wicket fired down the leg side......................................... 1 wideBall four
Full and smashed through long on .................................................................... 4Ball five
Very wide of off stump..................................................................................1 wideBall six
On a length, hit high to long-on. Jonny Bairstow catches it (1) then
collides with the boundary rope (2) but seems to release the ball
before doing so (3) to Liam Livingstone, who celebrates (4) — yet
replays show Bairstow touched the rope before his offload............... 6Ball seven
High into the leg side, but the ball falls in between Bairstow and
Livingstone, who holds his hand up to a disappointed Jordan.......... 2Ball eight
At last into the blockhole. Neesham squeezes it behind square for
a single ................................................................................................................................ 11 2
3 4