WT20 Day 5 Round-Up (England vs Ireland)
Today we will look back on England vs Ireland, and New Zealand vs Zimbabwe. The England Ireland match was simply a contest for top spot in group D after both teams had beaten the hosts, who had consequently been eliminated from the tournament. New Zealand vs Zimbabwe was more of a dead heat, unless Zimbabwe could pull off a dramatic upset and their net run rate increased significantly as a result.
England were put in to bat by Ireland, and thanks to some spirited bowling by Ireland, in particular Boyd Rankin, who took 3 wickets in his 3rd over, England were reduced to 52/6, Ireland were firmly in control at that point, but once again, England's lower-middle-order would prove to be the game changing component of the England team. Luke Wright and Graeme Swann took the score along to 99 before Swann departed on 24, Bresnan and Wright then continued, and by the end of the innings, Wright and Broad had taken the score up to 135/8. Not a match winning score by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely one that England's bowlers wouldn't mind defending.
Ireland's top order pretty much matched England's through the first few overs, as they too were 6 wickets down with just over 50 runs on the board. For England it was Anderson and Broad who did the damage. Ireland, who had surprised West Indies with a great innings from one of their batsmen, unleashed Andrew White upon England's bowlers, he dispatched the likes of Swann, Collingwood and Bresnan to the boundary with ease. However as White remained, the others fell, White would eventually be left on 69 from 44 when the last wicket fell, but the real story of the match would be the score Ireland were on when the last wicket fell, along with White's contribution, the few runs that Ireland's batsmen had contribution added up, and at 131/7, it looked like Ireland might pull off yet another upset. Tim Bresnan bowled the penultimate over, and took 2 wickets, Ireland's victory was thrown in jeopardy, Boyd Rankin had to face the final over from a fired up James Anderson. His first ball was hit for four, Rankin had levelled the scores, but was bowled next ball. Both teams were ecstatic, yet destroyed at the same time, England had snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat, and Ireland had seemingly thrown it away after only needing 5 runs with 3 wickets remaining.
What they said:
Paul Collingwood (England Captain)
"On a personal level it was an average match, but you can't think about your own performances in a match like this, Ireland were amazing, it just goes to show that you can't underestimate the smaller teams in this kind of match, thankfully our bowlers saved us and we've topped the group"
Boyd Rankin (Man of the Match)
"Even though we couldn't win today, we've more than proved that we're good enough to compete at this level, we beat the hosts, and we're in the super8s, so we've got a chance. Personally i had a great match, i've been in and out of form recently, but it looks like things are turning around"
England: 135/8 (20 Overs)
L Wright 33*
G Swann 24
B Rankin 4/42 (4)
P Connell 1/12 (4)
Ireland: 135 all out (19.2 Overs)
A White 69
T Johnston 20
T Bresnan 3/20 (4)
J Anderson 3/27 (3.2)
England Tied with Ireland,
Group D:
England P2 W1 T1 L0 3Pts +0.79
Ireland P2 W1 T1 L0 3Pts +0.26
West Indies P2 W0 T0 L2 0Pts -1.06
In the other game of the day, New Zealand eventually bowled a spirited Zimbabwe out for 163, completing a victory by 17 runs after New Zealand had earlier put on 180/6 from their 20 Overs.
New Zealand's top order did the majority of the damage, McCullum and Ryder both scored 29, but departed after building strong starts. Ross Taylor was the highlight of the innings, his scintillating 82 from just 48 deliveries including 16 4s turned New Zealand's innings from an average score into a big one. Barring a minor hiccup from the middle-order, New Zealand eased to 180 without being caused too many problems by the Zimbabwean bowlers.
Zimbabwe have to be given credit where it is due, and they would've caused New Zealand more problems had a couple of batsmen been able to stick around after settling in at the crease. Only Elton Chigumbura made it beyond 20, he went on to a lonesome 54 before being dismissed. Having said that, New Zealand's bowlers were on top form, in particular Tim Southee and Shane Bond, who both took 3 wickets. Eventually, Zimbabwe ran out of wickets and had to settle for defeat and elimination from the tournament.
New Zealand: 180/6 (20 Overs)
R Taylor 82*
B McCullum 29
P Utseya 1/29
E Chigumbura 1/30
Zimbabwe: 163 all out (20 Overs)
E Chigumbura 54
V Sibanda 20
S Bond 3/29
T Southee 3/36
New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 17 runs
Thankyou for joining us today, we've seen some great cricket so far in this tournament, and hopefully this will continue tomorrow when we'll look at Australia vs Bangladesh and South Africa vs Afghanistan. These two matches will conclude the group stages and decide who progresses and whose journey must end here. Until then, thankyou for joining us today, and we hope to see you soon.