The Times - UK (2021-11-11)

the times | Thursday November 11 2021 81

T20 World Cup: Semi-finalSport

to lead at next World Cup, says Morgan

extremely proud of the performance

they put in. When you play really well it

doesn’t always guarantee you win —

unfortunately we found ourselves on

the wrong side of a tight game.”

Daryl Mitchell, who took the match

award for his 72 from 47 balls, the last 34

of which came off 14 balls, said: “It was

tough to get going at times but all the

batters hung in there to allow us to build

a platform to launch at the end and we

were very lucky that a few snuck over

the rope. It was a bit of a blur but I guess

it was a hell of a game to watch.

“It never felt like it was out of our

grasp, especially with that short bound-

ary on one side. We knew there would

be some match-ups that would suit us

towards the end. The way Neesh

dominated that one over really set the

momentum.

“He played a hell of a knock. England

played a hell of a game and a hell of a

tournament. It’s the nature of finals

cricket, it’s always a game of inches.”

would be around in Australia in 12
months’ time, Morgan, 35, said, “Yes, I
hope so. I’m still offering enough within
the side. I absolutely love playing crick-
et at the moment for that changing
room. The guys give everything, they’re
at the forefront of change on and off the
field and we’ve a lot of things to be
proud about. I’m incredibly proud to be
the leader.”
Morgan praised New Zealand’s typi-
cally disciplined cricket. “The competi-
tive nature of the way we play against
the Black Caps is always healthy.
There’s a huge amount of respect
between both sides because we know
every time we play them we’re going to
be up against it. They don’t give you a lot
of leeway. They outplayed us. The dew
was not a major factor. All credit to the
lines and lengths they bowled.”
Morgan declined to blame the
absence of the injured Jason Roy and
Tymal Mills: “The 11 guys that took the
field gave absolutely everything. I’m

Proud dad in the crowd

John Mitchell, the former England

rugby team’s defence coach, was in

the crowd to watch his son Daryl hit

an unbeaten match-winning 72 for

New Zealand. The Times reported last

month that Mitchell had been upset

by Eddie Jones trying to stop him

watching his son play on a day off.

England die at death

Well though Jimmy Neesham and

Daryl Mitchell batted at the end, and

tricky though the dew was, England’s

death bowling let them down. This

has long been an area of concern and

without the injured Jofra Archer —

and for the past two games Tymal

Mills — it came to cost them dear.

The unheralded Mitchell, though,

played the innings of his life. For

much of the time it appeared he was

going too slowly but he provided the

glue the innings needed after the loss

of two early wickets. By the end of the

16th over, after Liam Livingstone had

finished a fine spell, New Zealand

needed 57 from the last 24 balls.

Neesham was the first to get things

moving, with three sixes, but Mitchell

then took over with three sixes of his

own. Off his last seven balls, he struck

26 and New Zealand — remarkably

— won with an over to spare.

The barest of margins

When England won the 50-over

World Cup final at Lord’s in 2019,

they had the rub of the green — the

deflection off Ben Stokes’s bat that

gifted England four runs and Trent

Boult stepping on the boundary

triangle as he attempted to complete

a catch, giving them six more.

But this time a couple of incidents

on the rope during New Zealand’s

run-chase went their way. First, in the

13th over, Chris Jordan made a heroic

leaping effort to palm a hit from

Mitchell off Adil Rashid back inside

the playing area, but agonisingly for

England the ball fell on to the

boundary-marker: six runs

to New Zealand. Then, in

the 17th over, Neesham

targeted long-on: Jonny

Bairstow caught the ball as he

fell beyond the boundary and

released it in the direction of

Livingstone, but replays

showed that Bairstow’s knee

hit the marker before he

unloaded. Six more runs to New

Zealand. Neesham would add ten

off his next five balls before he

was out.

Woakes’s dream start

Chris Woakes was again superb in

the powerplay, as he has been

throughout the tournament,

and so too were England’s

whole bowling unit —

once more. In six

matches they did

FRANCOIS NEL/GETTY IMAGES

nerve and skill at the death

Undone by rough

luck, caution and

Archer’s absence

not concede more than 40 in the first

six overs and they average 2.66

wickets in this phase — Woakes, with

six wickets, and Moeen Ali, with five,

having the greatest impact.

Woakes here removed Martin

Guptill with a clever pace-off delivery,

which induced a leading edge and an

easy catch for Ali at mid-on, and the

pressure he created with his accuracy

directly led to Kane Williamson’s

wicket as the New Zealand captain

failed to connect cleanly with a ramp

shot. Woakes’s opening three overs

cost only 16, with 11 dot balls. After six

overs, New Zealand were 36 for two,

leaving them with a lot of work to do.

Were batsmen too cautious?

Eoin Morgan generally chooses to

chase given the chance — England

have done so 26 times out of 32 since

the start of 2015 — so they were set a

tricky challenge batting first knowing

that conditions might be easier for

New Zealand when the dew came

into play. What was a competitive

score? With the new ball swinging

more than usual, they had to take

care. Were they too careful?

The score was 40 for one after six

overs and 67 for two after ten and

there was a suspicion that England

were being more risk-averse than

usual. Were there shades here of

them losing their nerve as they did in

the Champions Trophy semi-final at

Cardiff in 2017?

In fact they had a strong second

half and posted a score only three

runs higher than the 163 they made

against Sri Lanka in the group stage

— when they won with something to

spare. It appeared an even game at

the change of innings.

Middle-order left-handers

There was an intriguing game of cat

and mouse in the middle of the

innings with England’s left-handers

Dawid Malan and Ali dominating the

scoring and New Zealand trying to

find ways to counter them. They gave

Glenn Phillips, a part-time off

spinner who had not bowled

in the tournament, one over

in an attempt to attack the

outside edge as Ish Sodhi and

Mitchell Santner turned the

ball into the left-handers.

But Malan, so often

criticised for lack of positive

intent, twice put Phillips away

through the covers for four and

the over cost 11. Ali cut Sodhi

sweetly for four and, because the

Worcestershire all-rounder

batted so long, Santner was

given only one over,

Williamson preferring

Neesham’s cutters.

Had Bairstow not

moved up from No 4 to

open, one of Malan or Ali

would have occupied a

different position; in the event,

they scored 92 runs between

them from 67 balls —

definitely a win for England.

Simon Wilde picks over

England’s performance

to work out

how victory

eluded them

8

Sixes hit by New Zealand

— twice as many as the

four England managed

(one each from Malan

and Livingstone and

two from Ali)

57

Runs scored off 18 balls by

New Zealand in the 17th,

18th and 19th overs as

they won the match

with six balls to

spare

What a change for Neesham

After New Zealand lost the 50-over

World Cup final to England at Lord’s

in 2019, Jimmy Neesham was in

philosophical form. The next day the

New Zealand all-rounder, who took

three wickets and made 19 runs in

the final, said on Twitter: “Kids, don’t

take up sport. Take up baking or

something. Die at 60 really fat and

happy.” Yesterday’s vindication — as

he hit 27 off 11 balls, and took one

wicket — perhaps persuaded him of

the merits of being good at sport.

Neesham’s

27 off 11

balls

included

three sixes

and a four

Ali impressed with 51

not out off 37 balls