New Zealand Emerge Winners In A Rain Hit Match
The second match in group 1 was played between England and New Zealand here in Chittagong. This was an interesting tie as both the teams were looking forward to start their campaign in this year’s championship with a win. The Kiwis after winning the toss decided to field first. The English side went off to a good start scoring 55 runs of the first 6 overs. Hales was the only batsman who was dismissed in the power play. England seemed to be in good control when they lost two wickets in quick succession. The kiwi bowlers tried to control the run flow which they were successful of doing till Bopara arrived. His fearless strokes made England reach a score of 172 which was more than a fighting total in these conditions.
The kiwis,which were chasing a good score started off well. There was clear indication of a storm building up in the back drop. The kiwis lost their first wicket in the form of Guptil in the fourth over. McCullum replaced him and took the game forward. He scored at a brisk pace so as to maintain the run rate according to the D/L method. It was in 4.4 overs when lighting stuck in the background and kiwi’s still needed to face 2 balls for the umpires to apply D/L method. In the last ball of the 5th over McCullum stuck a huge six which took kiwi’s par the required score thus winning the game by 9 runs. CJ Anderson was named the player of the match for his disciplined bowling.