World T20: Roy butchers Kiwis as England enter final

Brief Scores: New Zealand 153/8 in 20/20 overs (Munro 46(32), Williamson 32(28), Stokes 3/26) lost to England 159/3 in 17.1/20 overs  (Roy 78(44), Buttler 32(17), Sodhi 2/42) by seven wickets

Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson tried every possible bowler in his armoury, but there was no stopping of Roy. He raced past his maiden T20I fifty in the first ball of the seventh over and put England in the driving seat needing just 79 in the last 13 overs. Alex Hales at the other end had the best seat in the ground, watching Roy’s carnage from close range. But, in an attempt to follow Roy’s methods, Hales perished for a 19-ball 20 at the long-on to give New Zealand and Mitchell Santner the first wicket.

Sodhi made it two in two balls as England skipper Eoin Morgan also fell to the leggie after Sodhi trapped the left-hander right in front of the stumps. Although the wickets ruined England’s plans of an early victory, the wickets came a bit too late in the game for the Kiwis to cause any trouble to their chase. Joe Root and Jos Buttler accumulated the rest of the runs and took the team to the victory with 17 balls to spare. England will face the winner of the match between India and West Indies in the final at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Earlier, England captain Eoin Morgan and won the toss and opted to bowl in the all-important semi-final, leaving the Kiwis to bat first for the fifth time in a row in the tournament. After back-to-back wins at the same venue, England went in with the same XI that took the field against Sri Lanka in the last group game, while the Kiwis brought back Martin Guptill and Adam Milne into the XI in place of Henry Nichols and Nathan McCullum.

The wicket certainly put a hold on the scoring rate, but skipper Kane Williamson and Colin Munro took their time and upped their ante in the last over of the powerplay to take the team to 51/1 at the end of six overs. Although Morgan brought on Adil Rashid to keep a check on the runs, Munro continued his merry making against the leggie by reverse pulling him over the cover boundary for a six in the ninth over.

Moeen Ali came to bowl in the 11th over and produced a breakthrough instantly by removing the Kiwi skipper for 32. Munro followed the skipper shortly after, falling to Liam Plunkett for 46 with Moeen Ali taking the catch at third man. From looking good for 200, the Kiwis were suddenly struggling to get past the 150-run mark. The boundaries dried up, yorkers and slower balls started flowing, as the Kiwis looked in a spot of bother for the first time in the match.