England Keep World T20 Hopes Alive With Comfortable Win Over New Zealand

England produced a much-improved performance to keep their World T20 title defence alive with a comfortable six wicket win over New Zealand. Set 149 to win from their 20 overs they cruised home with seven balls to spare, Luke Wright smashing 76 from just 43 balls.

England looked a vastly superior side to the one that was out-played by the West Indies on Thursday with all sections of their game functioning at it's top level. The bowling and fielding performance was unrecognisable from the one that saw Gayle and Charles take them apart, Steven Finn the star performer with magnificent figures of 3-16 from his four overs. 

It was Finn who made the early inroads that immediately put the Black Caps on the back foot as he claimed the big scalps of Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum to leave them 20-2. Guptill was trapped in front plumb L.B.W for just five, before McCullum fell after being caught by Wright for only 10. 

Kane Williamson (17) and Ross Taylor (22) gradually brought the Kiwis back into the game, but the run-rate was painfully slow before James Franklin hammered 50 off just 33 balls to drag them back into the match and set a challenging total of 148-6. 

England started slowly as Craig Kieswetter once again struggled to find his timing and was eventually bowled by Daniel Vettori for four from 14 balls. Alex Hales batted fluently for his 22 but it was Luke Wright who did  most of the damage as he hit five huge sixes in his destructive innings of 76. Eoin Morgan played a typically mature innings alongside him as they put on 89 for the third wicket to bring England within 22 runs of victory.

Morgan fell to a stunning catch by Doug Bracewell before Luke Wright's knock came to an end when he skied a ball from the fast bowler and was caught by Ross Taylor. However by then the result was not in doubt and when Yorkshire batsman Jonny Bairstow pulled his first ball for four England needed just three runs from nine balls. 

Stuart Broad and coach Andy Flower will be very pleased with their team's efforts today, but will know that nothing other than a win will do in their final group game against Sri Lanka if they are to hold any hope of defending their world title. Broad echoed these thoughts when he said: "It was really important for us to get a win, Steven Finn set the tone with the new ball and then Luke Wright and Eoin Morgan batted beautifully. We've got a big game on Monday, we've still got areas to improve and we'll take the positives."

Poor England Out-Played By The West Indies In Opening Super Eights Game

England went into their first Super Eights game of the World T20 with high hopes of beating a West Indies side that has recently been in transition. But with Chris Gayle leading the way with some big hits in the power-play, the Carribean out-fit proved far too good for the reigning champions.

Stuart Broad's side were immediately put under pressure and they did not find a break-through until the eleventh over when their opponents had already passed the 100-run mark. Chris Gayle hit some meaty blows at the beginning as he blitzed 58 off just 35 balls including 4 sixes.

After Gayle's dismissal it was young, unknown quantity Johnson Charles who took centre stage. The 23-year-old smashed 84 from just 56 balls with 10 fours and 3 sixes. He started slowly as he faced too many dot balls and scored just 21 from his first 24 balls. However after that he exploded into life and hammered boundary after boundary as he took just 35 deliveries for his last 63 runs.

Charles was given a life though when, on 39, he hit Jade Dernbach high into the night sky and Steven Finn made a complete hash of the chance. Incredibly Finn was put under the spotlight again straight away, as from the very next ball he did take a very similar chance to dismiss Gayle.

England's two spinners seemed slightly off-colour on a very good batting track as the West Indies batsmen took them apart with consummate ease. Swann took just one wicket from four overs at nine runs per over while Samit Patel bowled three wicket-less overs for 34 runs.

The West Indies ended with a big over to set England a more than challenging target of 180 from 20 overs at exactly nine runs per over. The England chase got off to the worst possible start as wicket-keeper-batsman Craig Kieswetter top-edged an ugly slog off the second ball of the innings and was caught by Kieron Pollard off the bowling of Ravi Rampaul. Rampaul then dismissed Luke Wright for a golden duck as he nicked to a gleeful Chris Gayle at slip.

At 0-2 after one over it was always going to be an up-hill climb but they did not do themselves any favours as they laboured to 55-3 at the half-way stage. Jonny Bairstow scored a pain-staking 18 from 29 balls before holing out to long-on off the bowling of Gayle. Eoin Morgan launched an incredible attack as he smashed 71* off 36 balls but it was always going to be a bridge too far for the defending champions and they lost by 15 runs.

There will be an inquest into why and how England managed to fall short of the West Indies, but in truth, they were out-manoeuvred in every area of the game. Their fielding was not bad, but not up to the standard of Darren Sammy's team. The athleticism of the likes of Pollard and Russell was nothing short of remarkable. Pollard took a stunning catch to get rid of Bairstow and Andre Russell produced one magnificent stop to deny Morgan a six. 

The only positive for Flower and co. will be the way that Eoin Morgan batted as he took apart the West Indies attack. England's bowlers were not poor, but collectively were not great, although to be fair it was a very flat surface. Stuart Broad bowled well, as did Steven Finn, but the rest were all expensive. It is starting to become confusing for an England fan as to why Samit Patel is in the team as his left-arm spin is clearly not good enough and he hardly ever gets a chance to bat. 

Even though this has been said so many times before it has to be said again: England really miss Kevin Pietersen. The first six overs of their innings lost England the game as they scored just 29 runs. Alex Hales played very well but at no point did he look as though he was going to do something extraordinary as he cruised to a solid 68 from 51 balls. His problem was that he lost his fluency when he started to try to hit the big shots.

Hales should come good but the world number one team's top order does look very vulnerable without Pietersen. Morgan could fill the role if pushed up to number four in the order, although that is by no means the main problem that England face. They really miss a power hitter and Jonny Bairstow looks to be the nearest thing to that, although today he really struggled under the pressure. 

England will need to up their game significantly in the next two matches as they will most likely have to win both to progress to the semi-finals. Sri Lanka are an excellent team, especially on home soil, while New Zealand looked very good today, despite the super over defeat. In the following games England need their big players to step up to the plate; the likes of Luke Wright, Graeme Swann and Jade Dernbach.