Colombo. England defeated New Zealand by four wickets in a thrilling Super-8 match of T20 World Cup 2026. New Zealand, who came to bat first after winning the toss, scored 159 runs for seven wickets in 20 overs in the match played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday. In reply, the England team scored 161 runs for six wickets in 19.3 overs and won the match. Will Jacques was named player of the match for his all-round performance.
Pakistan has heaved a sigh of relief with this victory of England. The path is still open for them to reach the semi-finals. Pakistan has to play its last match against Sri Lanka, if the team wins this match by a big margin and has a better net run rate then it can enter the semi-finals.
In this match, New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first and scored 159 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs. For them, Glenn Phillips played 39 innings and Tim Seifert played 35 runs. For England, Adil Rashid, Will Jacques and Rehan Ahmed took two wickets each while Liam Dawson got one wicket.
Chasing the target of 160 runs, England had a very bad start. Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson gave two blows to England at 2 runs by dismissing Phil Salt and Jos Buttler in the first eight balls. After this, captain Harry Brook (26) took over the innings and made a partnership of 45 runs with Jacob Bethel (21). But Glenn Phillips dismissed Brook on the first ball and then took a brilliant catch and sent Bethel to the pavilion as well. This put England under pressure.
In the middle order, Sam Curran (24) and Tom Banton (33) made an important partnership of 42 runs. Rachin Ravindra again restored balance in the match by dismissing Karan. England needed 43 runs in the last three overs. Rehan Ahmed played a quick inning of 19 not out in 7 balls, which included a four and a six. The match tilted towards England due to Mitchell Santner scoring 16 runs in the over and Glenn Phillips scoring 22 runs in the over. Matt Henry could not save the target in the last over and England won the match by four wickets after scoring 161 runs for 6 wickets in 19.3 overs.
The New Zealand team lost 2 points after the defeat against England and currently has only 3 points. Whereas Pakistan still has one point. Pakistan now has to play a match against Sri Lanka and if Salman Aga’s team defeats Sri Lanka, it will also get 3 points. In this situation, Pakistan and New Zealand, the team which has higher run rate will reach the semi-finals.
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