BRISBANE: England are now playing knockout cricket after a weather-disrupted campaign, declared assistant coach Paul Collingwood on Monday, and are targeting four wins to lift the T20 World Cup, starting with New Zealand in Brisbane.
England suffered a shock defeat to Ireland on the DLS method after a rain-interrupted match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last week, then saw their eagerly awaited Ashes clash against Australia at the same venue washed out.
It leaves Group 1 wide open and they now face leaders New Zealand on Tuesday knowing that victory in their last two group games will almost certainly see them into the semi-finals as one of the top two teams.
“There´s a lot of excitement around because we know if we get it right in the next four games we´ve got an opportunity to win a World Cup,” said Collingwood.
“We´re almost into the knockout stage now with how we´ve got to go about our cricket with must-win games and this is why we play the game.” Anything less than victory against New Zealand will leave England dependent on beating Sri Lanka in Sydney in their final group match on Saturday and hoping other results go their way.
“It´s a position you want to be in with an opportunity to win the World Cup and tomorrow kickstarts hopefully our momentum and our campaign,” said Collingwood “We put in a good performance tomorrow and that will give us a lot of confidence for the last three games.”
England pipped New Zealand via a tie, a tied super over and a greater number of boundaries scored to win the 50-over World Cup final in 2019, and Collingwood expected Tuesday´s clash with the Group 1 leaders, who have won two matches and seen one rained off, to be close again.
“Going into a fixture against New Zealand history shows you that it´s always been a tightly fought game,” said Collingwood, a former England all-rounder. “The bowlers are fresh, they´re raring to go, and the batters have been able to do a lot of specific confidence work in the nets and understand how they can go about the task tomorrow night in what usually is a really good Brisbane wicket.”
He defended under-fire Test captain Ben Stokes, who has never managed to fire in Twenty20 cricket, backing the all-rounder to come good when it matters. NZ wary of England firepower as they bid to seal semi place
New Zealand can become the first team into the T20 World Cup semi-finals this week but first will need to contain England´s powerful batting line-up, said pace bowler Lockie Ferguson on Monday.
Ferguson told reporters that New Zealand would need him and fellow quicks Trent Boult and Tim Southee to be at their best to overcome England at the Gabba on Tuesday night. “What you always expect from England is that they come out very hot,” said Ferguson. “They pride themselves probably on that aggressive nature and bat very deep.”
New Zealand sit top of Group 1 of the Super 12 stage after two wins and one washout and need one more victory from their last two games against England on Tuesday or Ireland on Friday to clinch a place in the final four.
Boult has been superb in the tournament so far, taking six wickets including a career-best 4-13 against Sri Lanka on Saturday. Southee took 3-6 as New Zealand started with bang, routing Australia in the tournament opener.
“Tim and Trent have had a blinder in these first two games,” said Ferguson. “When the ball´s swinging, there´s not much better in the world. So I think from that point of view, nothing needs to change too much, and we just need to adjust to the conditions on the day.
“England are going to have a lot of firepower and we need to combat that.” The clash against England at the Gabba is a replay of the 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final which New Zealand won by five wickets in Abu Dhabi.
It is also a repeat of the 2019 50-over World Cup final, which England edged by the finest of margins, a boundary countback, after a super over couldn´t separate the sides. Ferguson said New Zealand knew that a win would seal a semi-final place, but they were not looking that far ahead yet. “Clearly, there´s a long way to go for us. We need to make sure we take it game by game,” he said.
