4 reasons why England lost to New Zealand | ICC T20 WC 2021
England, the current champions of the 50-over format of the game, will not be in line to crown themselves the champions of the 20-over format as well. And who better to thwart them than New Zealand, the very team who lost the ODI World Cup final against them in 2019.
England were clear favorites to win the tournament to begin with, and to thump New Zealand in the semifinal as well. So, it should be said that when New Zealand beat them by 5 wickets and an over to spare, it was a surprise win of sorts.
And like any good surprise win, this has certain things that went beyond plan for England. Certain things, had they happened otherwise, that would have ended up leading to England being the winning party instead of New Zealand.
Here is a look at 4 of them:
#1 The injury to Jason Roy
Roy came out to open the innings against South Africa in their last group game and had scored 20 off 15 balls before he could not even stand any longer. The opener even had to be helped off the ground.
England later announced that he had torn his calf during a single and will be replaced by James Vince. And just like that, England were on the back foot. Roy was their second highest scorer in the tournament behind Buttler, the other opener.
England had to replace him with Johnny Bairstow for the NZ game. Bairstow, who had scored 34 runs across 5 games at an average of 11 until that point. And in this particular game, he scored 13 off 17 balls before falling to Adam Milne.
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The Roy-Buttler opening pair have a more established air of fear around them, and are capable of making bowlers make mistakes. With an out-of-form Bairstow coming in his place, their batting was visibly dented.
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#2 The injury to Tymal Mills
Tymal Mills might not be an England bowler who is known all over the world, but he certainly came into this tournament as the most essential. In the absence of Jofra Archer and Sam Curran, he was to be their deathovers specialist. Along with Chris Jordan, of course.
And deliver, he did. In the first 3 games he played, he picked up 7 wickets at an economy of 7.42, going for runs only against Australia. Then in the game against Sri Lanka he strained his right thigh and was ruled out of the tournament.
That left England with just one bowler who could bowl at the end of the innings. Mark Wood was hit all over the park against South Africa - he has always been a bowler who can breathe fire during the powerplays.
The loss of Tymal Mills was huge. England should have brought Reece Topley in to bowl at the death as soon as he was ruled out. Bowling Wood and Woakes at the death is just asking for trouble.
And against New Zealand both Jordan and Woakes were taken to the cleaners. They had nobody who could stem the runs from one end and ended up losing a game they had in their pocket up until that point.