New Zealand vs England, 17th Match, Group 1 at Kandy, Sep 29 2012 - Match Result

Luke Wright and Eoin Morgan's 89-run partnership is ENG's highest for the 3rd wicket in T20Is, breaking the record of 83 between Pietersen and Eoin Morgan

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Wright guides England to victory

England sustained their hopes of retaining the World Twenty20 title with a six-wicket win over New Zealand in Pallekele

29-Sep-2012•The Report by George Dobell

Match centre Scores : M Venkat Raghav • Comms : Andrew McGlashan

Scorecard summary

New Zealand1 Inn

148/6(20 overs)

50 (33)

3/16 (4)

22 (23)

1/20 (4)

England2 Inn

149/4(18.5 overs)

76 (43)

1/20 (4)

30 (31)

1/22 (4)

That just about wraps things up for this match. I'll now hand over to my colleagues for the Sri Lanka-West Indies contest. From myself and Alan Gardner thanks for joining us and see you soon.

Stuart Broad "It was nice to bounce back. Steven Finn set the tone with the new ball. The wicket was a lot drier and it did turn a bit. We now have a huge game on Monday. We still have areas to improve."

Ross Taylor "I thought it was a decent score but no enough at the end of the day. We had our moments but we could capitalise on them."

Luke Wright is named Man of the Match: "It was a very important win, we are very chuffed. I love batting with Morgan, he's so chilled out there. I think Steven Finn should have been here with the way he bowled."

I'll bring you some news from the presentation shortly as we wait for the start of the second match between Sri Lanka and West Indies. Narine v Mendis?

"Taylor made the same mistakes as AB yesterday, under-utilising their spinners," says Din.

"What on earth happened to Southee's yorkers today?" asks Andy. Answers on a postcard, please.

So comfortable for England in the end, winning with an over to spare in Twenty20 is the sign of a perfectly-paced run chase. Vettori and McCullum were good with the ball, and Franklin with the bat, but that wasn't enough for New Zealand. It means they are on the brink of going out of the tournament, but England are still very much alive with a game to come against Sri Lanka on Monday.

18.5

Doug Bracewell to Buttler, 1 run

England win...a full delivery is forced down to mid-off and they scamper the single

18.4

Doug Bracewell to Bairstow, 1 run

outside off, chopped to backward point who parries it away for a single and the scores are level

18.4

Doug Bracewell to Bairstow, 1 wide

now that's very wide outside off

18.3

Doug Bracewell to Bairstow, FOUR runs

short ball, Bairstow quickly onto it and pulls to fine leg...stood up nicely on a easy-paced surface

Job not quite done by England, but almost and a very mature innings from Wright

18.2

Doug Bracewell to Wright, OUT

he's struck second ball, Wright slaps this straight to cover as he tried to give himself a touch of room to go through the off side

Luke Wright c Taylor b Bracewell 76 (43b 5x4 5x6 59m) SR: 176.74

18.1

Doug Bracewell to Buttler, 1 run

starts with a length ball that is driven over cover as Buttler stands outside leg stump

Well, here's Doug Bracewell. Tough ask for him now!

Over18

3 runs

ENG 141/3CRR: 7.83 RRR: 4.00

JC Buttler 3 (6b)LJ Wright 76 (42b 5x4 5x6)

DL Vettori1/20 (4)

17.6

Vettori to Buttler, 1 run

full on leg stump, opens the face and drives to the sweeper

17.5

•

Vettori to Buttler, no run

comes down the pitch and drives to cover

17.4

•

Vettori to Buttler, no run

quicker ball cramps him for room as he punches off the back foot to cover

17.3

1lb

Vettori to Wright, 1 leg bye

comes down the pitch, the arm ball spears towards the pads and runs into the off side

17.2

Vettori to Buttler, 1 run

fired in at the pads, Buttler misses his flick and it trickles to short fine-leg

17.1

•

Vettori to Buttler, no run

pushed back to the bowler

Vettori back for his last over but it's too late

Over17

12 runs, 1 wicket

ENG 138/3CRR: 8.11 RRR: 3.66

LJ Wright 76 (41b 5x4 5x6)JC Buttler 1 (1b)

KD Mills1/23 (4)

This is Wright's best innings for England. He's been superb this evening

16.6

Mills to Wright, FOUR runs

Mills loses his concentration, drops it short outside off and Wright pulls it from a wide line through midwicket, goes one bounce wide of long-on

Mills bails out as Buttler was backing up too far, too soon...in his view. Buttler has been warned

16.5

Mills to Wright, FOUR runs

he's crunched that, a full ball outside off and Wright frees his arms with a powerful although deep cover almost pulled off a wonderful saving diving by the boundary...got his fingertips to it

16.4

Mills to Buttler, 1 run

short outside off, Buttler gets over the top of the ball and cuts down to third man

16.3

Mills to Wright, 1 run

a slower ball, full on middle, flicked into the leg side in front of square

16.3

Mills to Wright, 1 wide

loose from Mills, fired well wide outside off

So Morgan won't be there at the end. Time for a twist? There shouldn't be but you never know. Vettori has one over to bowl

16.2

Mills to Morgan, OUT

wonderful catch! Morgan picked this up from off stump and connected well, but Bracewell made a lot of ground to his left at long-on and hurled himself under the catch

Eoin Morgan c Bracewell b Mills 30 (31b 1x4 1x6 38m) SR: 96.77

"Difficult chose between Wright's maximums and the Arsenal-Chelsea match. Have my eyes on both," says Hart. So does Alan here in the office

16.1

Mills to Wright, 1 run

short outside off, Wright hammers it square to deep cover

Mills back for his last over

Over16

15 runs

ENG 126/2CRR: 7.87 RRR: 5.75

EJG Morgan 30 (30b 1x4 1x6)LJ Wright 66 (37b 3x4 5x6)

RJ Nicol0/29 (3)

All of a sudden this has become comfortable for England. An excellent stand between these two. "At least now with Wright performing England aren't just relying on Morgan to get them out of trouble with the bat (which is what both T20s and ODIs have seemed like in the past)," says Jon.

15.6

•

Nicol to Morgan, no run

full and flat, Morgan connects quite cleanly but sends it straight into the non-striker's stumps

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Best performances - batters

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LJ Wright

ENG

76 runs (43)

5 fours5 sixes

Productive shot