England kept Pakistan's hopes alive by defeating New Zealand

At one time, it seemed that this equation was no longer fair. New Zealand was ahead. Chasing 160 runs, when the English lost 6 wickets to collect 117 runs, then Cricinfo said that New Zealand had 84 percent chance of winning the match.

A miracle was needed for the English to win from there, hang on to New Zealand and Pakistan and take the Super Eight Group 2 thriller to the last day. England finally did. The target was met with 4 wickets and 3 balls in hand.

And that's where the group fights. The Pakistan Sri Lanka match will now decide whether New Zealand or Pakistan will go to the last four from Group 2 after England.

New Zealand took 7 wickets for 159 runs at the Premadasa Stadium on Friday. The match was not easy for England. They collide at the beginning. Phil Salt and Jos Buttler were out quickly. Team runs were 2 for 2 in eight balls.

England lost four wickets for 58 runs in the ninth over. Harry Brooke and Jacob Bethel, the Centurion captains of the previous match, returned quickly. Jacob Bethel and Sam Curran were showing hope for the English from this situation. However, when Karan returned for 100 runs and Bethel returned for 117 runs, England went further on the back foot.

From there, Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed pulled the team. They put on an unbroken stand of 44 runs for the seventh wicket. Jacks scored 32 runs. Rehan scored 19 runs. England won in their pair.

Earlier, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and decided to bat. If they win, the semi-finals would be confirmed for them. New Zealand entered with the same team that beat Sri Lanka by a big margin.

England make one change to the team. Rehan Ahmed was brought back in place of Jamie Overton. At first the decision seemed wrong. New Zealand scored 64 runs without losing a wicket in 6.5 overs.

Then England turned around. Adil Rashid dismisses Tim Seifert. He scored 35 off 25 balls. Will Jacks later returned to Finn Allen. He scored 29 runs off 19 balls.

Rehan Ahmed got a wicket on the first ball of the World Cup. Rachin Ravindra became his victim. Glenn Phillips scored 39 off 28 balls. He later became Jax's second victim. Both Rashid and Rehan took two wickets each.

Salahuddin/sa