1.13 England Black Cap(itulation)

Twenty20 World Cup / Editor / 18 September 2007 / Leave a Comment

England matched at 1.13 before middle-order collapse

England can now add Twenty20 cricket to the list of sports they are good at...bottling. Andrew Flintoff is known as a man who enjoys the odd drink but ironically the big Lancastrian was just about the only player once again coming out of this match with his credibility intact. Flintoff bowled a superb three-over spell for just 11 runs, taking the big wicket of the very big Peter Fulton.

Whereas 164 is probably a par score in this form of the game for the side batting first, chasing it from a position of 62-0 should be little more than a formality. The odds about an England win of 1.13 at this stage certainly suggested that was the case. New Zealand were available at 8. But that was before Vikram Solanki played one big shot too many and was caught in the deep. After finally showing the sort of form that got him the call-up in the first place, Darren Maddy got 50 before getting...out.

Pietersen followed after playing the reverse sweep to a Vettori delivery that kept straight and before they knew it England were the underdogs to win a match they were Top Dogs to win. Collingwood followed but Owais Shah and Luke Wright responded with boundaries at crucial times and it was once again advantage England.

Needing 19 from 11 balls, it was 1.74 England and 2.3 New Zealand but losing your key batsman next ball doesn't exactly help your cause when you need almost 2 runs a ball: Shah out, England out to 3.05. "Hold fire, England doom and gloom merchants, Dimitri is next in" the Barmy Army supporters seemed to be saying. "Yes, but he's also the next out" seemed to be Shane Bond's response as the pace man had Mascarenhas caught on the boundary.

It was all too much for the tail end to deal with and England's wickets fell like a 6ft 2 Ivorian striker at Chelsea after being nudged by Shaun Wright-Phillips in training.

New Zealand are now just 6.8 to win the tournament, having traded as high as 20.