DELHI, India – England romped into the World T20 final with a comprehensive seven wicket win over New Zealand in Delhi on Wednesday night that will leave potential opponents India and West Indies well aware of the threat this side poses.
It was a brutal, devastating performance by England who served up a treat to the 35,000 people in attendance at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
Jason Roy’s incredible 78 off 44 balls was the star of the show, setting up Joe Root (27*) and Jos Buttler (32*) to finish things off in style with a partnership of 49 that ended with Root clearing the fence to win the game with a six.
A delighted Roy hailed it as one of the best innings of his career and the 25-year-old is confident that England will go into the final confident of securing the trophy.
“I’d prefer face either side, good luck to them both,” said Roy of England’s potential opponents in the final.
“It’s going to be a great experience whoever we come up against. Whoever it is we’re going to come all guns blazing.
Roy described his own game as “simple” a gross injustice based on his performance in the semi-final.
“My philosophy with batting is watch the ball and hit the ball if it’s in my areas. It’s a very simple philosophy especially in T20,” he said.
“We’re getting better with every game. [The final is] going to be an incredible experience but we’re going to go out there and play our natural way and play the brand of cricket we’ve played for the last year or so.”
Earlier, Martin Guptill, back in the side after being rested for New Zealand’s final Super 10s, found the English bowlers generous first up but David Willey induced a nick behind in the third over from a wafting drive outside off stump to hand his side an important early breakthrough.
So, #ENG have booked their place in the Final on Sunday, but who will join them? #WI or #IND
— ICC (@ICC) March 30, 2016
#ENGvNZ #WT20 pic.twitter.com/f2l1y1Vrxr
Some agricultural Colin Monro hitting shovelled New Zealand to 51-1 after the first six overs of powerplay, a score that looked very much par for the course on a very good Delhi deck.
It was a perfect platform on which to build from and alongside Kane Williamson the pair put on 74 for the second wicket before skipper was caught and bowled by Moeen Ali with his team 94-2 three balls into the second-half of their innings.
It allowed England to slow the New Zealand charge and just two overs later they had the key wicket of Monro who had bludgeoned 46 from 32 balls by the time he top edged Liam Plunkett to Moeen on the third man boundary.
The excellent Chris Jordan (1-24) then accounted for Ross Taylor (8) as England looked to restrict the Kiwi total with death bowling full of wide yorkers.
And it was a tactic that was working once again, Jordan and Ben Stokes replicating the success they had against Sri Lanka in their decisive final Super 10s match.
Stokes was slightly fortuitous in dismissing Luke Ronchi and Corey Anderson with full tosses in the same over but England will feel they earned their luck after restricting New Zealand to just the solitary boundary in their final four overs.
The England all-rounder finished with figures of 3-25 as the Kiwis stuttered to 153-8, a disappointing total considering how good they were in the first half of their innings after managing just 32 runs in their final five overs.
That Kiwi target looked increasingly unsubstantial as Roy and Alex Hales took apart Corey Anderson, Adam Milne and Mitchell McClenaghan early on, racing to 50 in 4.2 overs.
New Zealand quickly looked to their spinners that excelled in their unbeaten run to the semis with Mitchell Santner introduced two overs inside the powerplay and his country in desperate need of stemming the flow of runs.
Although the response was not immediate it did eventually come via Santner but not before England had raced to 82 from 8.2 overs as Hales departed for 20.
Roy, however, was the star man, delighting the crowd with a relentless innings of utter dominance.
He left England on course for a routine victory but after falling to Ish Sodhi and Eoin Morgan was lbw the very next ball, New Zealand were given a small sight of light at the distant end of the tunnel.
It wasn’t to be for New Zealand as Buttler and Root coasted over the line, England winning with 17 balls to spare and advancing to Kolkata’s final on April 3.
