World T20 Champs Super 8s & KOs, Feb 21-March 8

[Arthur Crabtree]

NZ outclassed England in the first 11 overs twice with bat and ball. Going to have to win without a significant score from Brook.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England just aren''t going to score at 10 an over for 8 overs with Brook already out, on a turning pitch v spin. So game over.

[meninblue]

Eng lose couple more wickets. 58/4 in 6.4 overs. Tom Banton never looked convincing against spin in prior matches he has played in Asia. Sam Curran and Will Jacks will have to do much of the reamining work.

Rachin dismisses Jacob the same way he himself got out.

Tom Banton has already scored 21. Sam Curran on 24. Both stitching a partnership.

[Arthur Crabtree]

That partnership cost England the match though.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Unless Rehan turns it around...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Well done Will Jacks also. And it took a lot of reverse jinx from me too to get them over the line.

[meninblue]

What an exciting match. The best wicket groundsmen have prepared in the competition. Excellent by WIll, should get Player of the match. Well done to England.

[Alviro Patterson]

Congratulations to Red Devil on his new gig in covering the Twenty20 World Cup. Only he could tell Laura McGoldrick to ask Will Jacks if England are peaking at the right time

[Durhamfootman]

Doubtless Haddin will have noted that England are in the SF's having won all 3 of their super 8 matches and still be ssiping himself over how crap the cricket is that England are playing. Maybe they'll end up facing Australia in the final..... oh wait, that's right, I remember now.... Aus were just a bit unlucky with injuries and a bit forgetful over Snivelling Steve

well done Brad! keep it up

[Durhamfootman]

His batting may be shot to sh1t atm, but the two stumpings completed by Buttler were very well done. Smart work

[bigfluffylemon]

Well that was quite the come from behind. Again, a lot of credit due to England's spinners as well as lower order - they really pulled back the second half of New Zealand's innings.

Will Jacks tops the cricinfo smart stats tournament MVP. Who had that on their prediction list? Not me, that's for sure.

Most likely England will take on India in the semis. Beating them at home will be no mean achievement - and unlikely to be much shame going out to them (barring a totally limp performance). Even if they go out, will be hard to judge England's tournament as anything other than positive overall, although plenty of room for improvement. On the other hand, if the openers ever actually score some runs, sky is the limit.

DFM, I'm a bit puzzled why you keep referring to Haddin - is he commentating on the UK coverage?

[alfie]

Well done Will Jacks also. And it took a lot of reverse jinx from me too to get them over the line.

Indeed brilliant RPC from you , Arthur...

Must admit I thought this one was gone when Brook departed ; but once again the all rounders rescued the innings. The Curran/Banton stand might have been slower than hoped but it did stabilise things : and once Rehan emerged to strike that lovely straight six NZ seemed to get a bit rattled. Jacks has become the master of late innings finishing and when he took the rest of Phillips' over so dramatically the odds switched in a flash. Probably wouldn't have had Jacks PoTM x 4 on my bingo card for this WC

Not sure what it means for the knock outs. SA v (probably) NZ - can't see Pakistan winning by 65 over Sri Lanka ; so you'd think SA have the advantage. And England to play either India or West Indies (neither would surprise me) on very different pitches from these in Sri Lanka...hmm.

Selection quandary for England. Is Rehan a must now ? Because surely Overton must return for Indian conditions. Can they do the obvious - ie , drop Buttler and go with 4 bats and seven bowlers ? Have to say , even opening with Rashid couldn't get much worse results so would be the logical move ... but not sure they are ruthless enough to ditch their apparently terminal icon...

[Durhamfootman]

DFM, I'm a bit puzzled why you keep referring to Haddin - is he commentating on the UK coverage?

Willow talk podcast during the WC. With Aus effectively out of the comp, they were reviewing the other contenders. His co comms mentioned England and he nearly wet himself laughing, looked really smug and said something along the lines of they're so sh1t I'm not even going to talk about them, because they're just an embarrassment and immediately moved onto teams that had at least some hope of progressing. If Australia were competing well in the comp, that wouldn't have bothered me... all part of the gamesmanship banter, but with Aus eliminated after being so uncompetitive and playing so poorly themselves, I found that extremely arrogant and lacking in humility.... he just got my back up. When that happens, I'm like a dog with a bone... I can't let it go

[Durhamfootman]

Will Jacks tops the cricinfo smart stats tournament MVP. Who had that on their prediction list? Not me, that's for sure.

I've been scoring his performances out of curiosity whilst doing the fantasy league. Nobody picked him, but if somebody had, he'd be sitting on top of the player leaderboard with a 126 point lead right now

[Durhamfootman]

Selection quandary for England. Is Rehan a must now ? Because surely Overton must return for Indian conditions. Can they do the obvious - ie , drop Buttler and go with 4 bats and seven bowlers ? Have to say , even opening with Rashid couldn't get much worse results so would be the logical move ... but not sure they are ruthless enough to ditch their apparently terminal icon...

From what I've read, a turning pitch is being prepared for the England SF, because they'll be India's opponents (assuming India progress, of course). There may very well be no need to drop Ahmed

I'd be staggered if Buttler was dropped, but unless he suddenly sparks into life, there may be question marks next to his name ahead of the ODI WC next year