ICC Champions Trophy 2017, England vs New Zealand: Formidable Hosts Storms Into Semi-Finals

ICC Champions Trophy 2017, England vs New Zealand: Hosts Won By 87 Runs

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 has welcomed its first semi-finalist and it’s none other than the hosts themselves, who are also the favorites to win this tournament. Amazingly, after 44 overs, England was at 260 for 7 and by all means, we were expecting a total close to 290 by the end of the innings, however, the scorecard skyrocketed from there on and New Zealand had a target of 311 runs to chase.

While Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 61-runs stand in 48 balls was the highlight of the innings, an overall powerful batting performance by Alex Hales (56 off 62 balls ), Joe Root (64 off 65 balls) and Ben Stokes (48 off 53 balls) was enough for the host to dominate the game, which could have been a high-scoring one, if it was not for the turning point of the match.

In reply, New Zealand ended up short at 223 all out in just 44.2 overs despite a masterclass performance from Kane Williamson who registered 87 runs off 98 balls, as he lacked the support from the whole batting order.

Before we come to the turning point of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, England vs New Zealand match, we would like to talk about some of the classic shots played by the winning team in the first innings.

From the word go, England batsmen went right at Kiwis’ bowling attack and there was rarely a loose ball that was not punished with a boundary, moreover, the hosts seemed way too confident as they were not backing down from coming out of the crease for some of the biggest as well as classic maximums on the off-side.

Watch the compilation of sixes hit by the England team that laid the foundation of their win against New Zealand.

Kane Williamson was frequently rotating his bowlers to try and not let the opposition settle, but while the strategy was sound enough for any other match, England’s batting might, prevented it from being a huge success.

Chasing a total of 310 runs is never an easy task but we have seen teams doing so on more than a couple of occasions in ICC Champions Trophy, which takes us to the turning moment of the match.

After Martin Guptill and Luke Ronchi went cheap during the initial moments of the England vs New Zealand match, it was Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor who studied the innings but while Liam Plunkett (9.3-55-4) was a consistent breakthrough provider to England, Mark Wood, with his solitary dismissal became the bowler that mattered the most.

Wood started exploiting the bounce and during one such delivery, Kane Williamson misjudged the pace while executing a dab in the third man area and it backfired as the kookaburra crept up and kissed his glove, Jos Buttler completing it with an easy catch behind the stumps.

This also highlighted the fact that how Wood was restricting the run rate to decrease and the pressure forced Williamson to go for this abrupt shot. However, an army of lower-order hitters waiting in the Kiwis’ dressing room and they would have fancied their chances but they crumbled down in pressure, making way for England to enter the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 Semi-Final.

As for the standings in Group A, while England sealed the top spot, for now, New Zealand will have to beat Bangladesh in its last game to qualify for the semi-finals with and that too if Australia loses to England in its final match of the tournament.

7th June 2017
Rohan Jaitly