Kane Williamson:
“Credit to the way England played, they played beautifully, put us under pressure from the get-go and were clinical. It was a slightly above-par total. We tried to take it deep, but credit to the way they bowled. It was a fair surface, we were in it in the second half but needed a few things to go our way. Tried to target certain areas of the ground and take it deep.
On dropping Buttler. “One of, if not the best player in the game. If you do that he’ll make you pay, made the boundaries look small, which they certainly are not. I thought I squeezed the catch into my chest, a bit embarrassing. Phillips, batting beautifully on some difficult pitches. Long may that continue.”
Jos Buttler is the Player of the Match:
“We had a poor performance [against Ireland] but a lot of confidence in the group, we left it all out there tonight. A ruthless tournament, SA went out last year with four wins out of five. You expect to be under pressure. I think with our line-up, we bat deep, allows us to take it on an over earlier than you might. The wicket was tricky, but Hales played a great knock and took the pressure off.
“Hales played brilliantly, one of the form T20 players and he’s got his chance again. Easy to critique performances but you need to back players in a high-risk game. We pushed beyond 160-165 so 180 was a good score. We’ve had success batting first against Australia, so being brave and take the positive option, knowing you need to take wickets.”
Pitch and weather: David Hussey describes the Gabba as “probably the best batting pitch in Australia for white-ball cricket”, and the numbers back that up: the average scoring rate there in men’s T20Is is 7.94 per over, the second-highest of any Australian ground. The pitch was on the slow side in Australia’s win against Ireland on Monday, and the same strip will be used on Tuesday, which could bring spinners into play.
Bad weather has followed England around over the last week, and the forecast for the match is not the best either, with rain due to fall throughout Tuesday morning. However, the weather is expected to clear up later in the day, and the Gabba’s renowned underground drainage system could ensure the teams get on to the pitch.
New Zealand vs England Highlights today. 33rd Match, Group 1 (N), Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane, Tuesday 1-11-2022, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Toss: England will bat first.
“Used wicket, a couple of games on it, we fancy a bat today,” says Jos Buttler. “We’re excited for the game, looking forward to it. Plenty of people raring to go.” Unchanged team for England, but Buttler adds he’ll be “flexible with the order”.
Kane Williamson: “We would have had a bat as well, but we’ll adapt. We just want to focus on one game at a time and make those adjustments. Try to use the new ball first up.”
New Zealand team: 1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway (wk), 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 James Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Lockie Ferguson
England team: 1 Jos Buttler (capt, wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Harry Brook, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Adil Rashid
Head to Head In T20I’s: 22
New Zealand Won: 8
England Won: 13
New Zealand T20I Rankings: 5th
England T20I Rankings: 2nd
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 Points Table
Form guide
(last five completed Tests, most recent first)
New Zealand WWLLW
England LWWWW
Match Timings: 08:00 AM GMT | 06:00 PM Local
Umpires – Langton Rusere, Nitin Menon
TV Umpire – Rod Tucker
Match Referee – Andy Pycroft
Reserve Umpire – Ahsan Raza
Match number – T20I no. 1858
