England edge New Zealand

BRISBANE - Clinical England rescued their Twenty20 World Cup campaign as they held their nerve to beat New Zealand by 20 runs at the Gabba in Brisbane yesterday.

England, who had been facing almost certain elimination had they lost, moved into the top two in Group 1 along with their opponents with one round of matches to go. Only the top two reach the semifinals.

It puts enormous pressure on hosts and defending champions Australia, who must now win their last match against Afghanistan and hope England or New Zealand stumble.

“We had a poor performance (losing against Ireland) but there’s a lot of confidence in the group,” said England skipper Jos Buttler, who propelled England to 179-6 after he smashed 73 off 47 balls. Alex Hales also struck a half-century. “We were aiming for 160-165, but we managed to push beyond that – we left it all out there tonight,” said Buttler.

The captain played a crucial role with the bat as England finally started to show why they were one of the pre-tournament favourites. Their fate is now in their own hands.

England got away to a perfect start in the field when New Zealand opener Devon Conway leg-glanced a ball from Chris Woakes and Buttler took a spectacular diving catch. It got worse for the Kiwis when Finn Allen pulled a slower ball from Sam Curran to Ben Stokes at deep mid-wicket, leaving New Zealand 28-2 after five overs.

New Zealand, England and Australia are all on five points after four games.

But New Zealand, last year’s beaten finalists, top Group 1 on net run rate, with England second.

New Zealand, who could have sealed a spot in the semifinals with victory, play Ireland on Friday – the same day the hosts are in action against already eliminated Afghanistan. England face Asian champions Sri Lanka on Saturday to wrap the group up.