Two-time champions England secured a hard-fought four-wicket victory over New Zealand in a crucial Super Eights clash of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 at the R Premadasa Stadium on Friday.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner's decision to bat first backfired as they were able to muster 159/7 in their allotted 20 overs against a spin-heavy England bowling attack.
Middle-order batsman Glenn Phillips remained New Zealand's top scorer with 39 off 28 balls, followed by openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen, who made 35 and 29 respectively.
For England, Will Jacks, Adil Rashid and Rehan Ahmed bagged two wickets each, while Liam Dawson contributed one.
In turn, England chased down the target of 160 runs for the loss of six wickets and three balls to spare, courtesy of a quickfire unbeaten partnership of 44 runs for the seventh wicket between Jacks and Rehan.
Jacks hit an unbeaten 32 off just 18 deliveries, smashing four fours and a six, while Rehan scored 19 not out for seven balls with the help of two sixes and a four.
Rachin Ravindra was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers, taking three wickets for just 19 runs in his four overs, while Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson and Phillips were able to get one each.
England's victory put New Zealand's hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals on hold, as well as keeping Pakistan in contention, who will face co-hosts Sri Lanka in the final Group 2 Super Eights match of the T20 World Cup 2026 in Kandy on Saturday.
Pakistan, third in the Group 2 standings with one point from two matches, now need to beat Sri Lanka by around 65 runs or chase the target in 13.1 overs to improve on New Zealand's net run rate of 1.390.
However, the Green Shirts' net run rate is currently negative 0.461, and if they fail to beat Sri Lanka by a substantial margin, New Zealand would join England in qualifying for the Group 2 semi-finals.
