England boosted its chances of making the T20 World Cup semifinal after beating New Zealand by 20 runs despite another whirlwind knock by Glenn Phillips at the Gabba.
Chasing 180-runs for the win, Phillips’ knock of 62 runs off 36 balls kept his side in the game before New Zealand ultimately fell short.
The importance of the game for England showed from the very start with Jos Buttler choosing to bat first to calm any nerves.
England’s captain and his opening partner Alex Hales then went on a rampage adding 81 runs for the opening wicket.
After Hales departed having scored 52 off 40 balls, Buttler, who was dropped on 8 and 40 took up the mantle to score 73 off 47 balls before being runout.
Moeen Ali (5), Harry Brook (7), Ben Stokes (8) and Sam Curran (6*) were all promoted above Dawid Malan (3*) but failed to add much to the scoreline with only Liam Livingstone (20) managing to get into double figures.
The top-heavy contribution was enough for England to put 179/6 on the board with New Zealand happy to have stopped the onslaught in the middle through the use of their spinners who conceded just 48 runs from their 8 overs.
In reply, New Zealand got off to a slow start largely due to England using spinners to block runs before Chris Woakes and Sam Curran removed the dangerous duo of Devon Conway and Finn Alenn respectively to heap even more misery on the Kiwis.
Glenn Phillips, fresh off a century, and the ever-reliable Kane Williamson (40 off 40) did the repair job with a 91-run stand.
Williamson, Jimmy Neesham 96) and Daryl Mitchell (3) departed in quick succession looking for big hits before Phillips joined them looking to accelerate even further to take the wind out of their sails.
For England, Sam Curran, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament finished with two wickets for 26 runs with Woakes taking 2/34.
The win over New Zealand takes England closer to the T20 World Cup semifinal as they move above Australia in the Group 1 table due to a better net run rate.
All three have 5 points from four games with New Zealand set to face Ireland in their last match while Australia will take on Afghanistan and England facing the toughest of tests against Sri Lanka.
