Semi-final: NZ, 167-5; beat England 166-4, by five wickets
Mitchell’s 72 gains revenge for 2019 in another World Cup thriller
England’s attempt to unite the white-ball belts ended in Abu Dhabi with them on the canvas, bewildered and then beaten by a succession of vicious blows from Jimmy Neesham and Daryl Mitchell as a spellbinding game reached a brutal conclusion. Between them they simply pulverised England’s death bowling as, at the end of an evening when batters consistently struggled to time the ball and find the boundary, everything suddenly clicked. In the end New Zealand cantered to victory by five wickets with an over to spare.
Defeat will sting, of course, and it will be little consolation to Eoin Morgan’s side that they contributed to a slow-burning thriller of a semi-final, a match that teetered compellingly on a knife-edge throughout.
