New Zealand defeated England by nine runs via the Duckworth/Lewis method after rain interrupted their first ICC World Twenty20 game at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Saturday. On this same day 22 years ago, England defeated South Africa by 22 runs in Sydney via the most productive overs method in the ICC World Cup in 1992; a result that caused that method to be discontinued and eventually led to the adoption of D/L method.
It all came back in the form of disappointment for the English, when New Zealand posted 52-1 in 5.2 before the rains came out. England made 172-6.
The match was officially called off at 10:57pm.
New Zealand opener Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum were unbeaten on 24 and 16 runs respectively when the game was halted. Martin Guptill (11) was removed by Jade Dernbach earlier.
After losing opener Alex Hales off the third ball of the innings thanks to brilliant catch at mid-on by Corey Anderson, England revived the innings through a combined effort from Michael Lumb and Moeen Ali.
The duo added 76 runs for the second wicket before Moeen, who made 36 from 23 balls, holed out to deep square-leg and provided New Zealand with some much-needed respite.
Moeen showed his hitting skill in front of a near-capacity crowd before his lapse in concentration prevented him from reaching the maiden Twenty20 half-century he seemed destined for.
Lumb, who made 36 runs, with four boundaries and a six, in 24 balls followed Moeen to the dugout in the next over, with Anderson taking a difficult low catch at third man.
Ravi Bopara and Jos Buttler (32) took the responsibility to build on the platform before the latter was clean bowled by Anderson.
Runs came in a torrent towards the end of the innings as Tim Bresnan made 17 runs from eight balls to help England post 172-6 – the highest total at the venue so far.
Bopara remained unbeaten on 24. Pace bowler Mitchell McClenaghan picked up 1-22, and his spot-on bowling did not allow the batsmen to swing their bats freely.
England had already started their campaign on a sour note when Craig Kieswetter replaced Luke Wright in the squad.
Wright has a right side strain and has been ruled out of the tournament.
-With New Age input
