New Zealand post 153/8 as England put brakes in final overs

New Zealand batsmen frittered away a fantastic start in front of some splendid death bowling by England to post a below-par 153 for eight in the first semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20, here tonight.
The England bowlers came under the pump during the first 10 overs giving away 89 runs but were once again brilliant at the death conceding only 64 runs in the last 10 overs to stop New Zealand from setting an imposing target.
Much of the credit must go to Ben Stokes (3/26 in 4 overs) for his wonderful bowling at the death and ably complemented by Chris Jordan (1/24 in 4 overs) as seven wickets fell in the back-10.

In between them, the duo bowled 23 dot balls, which meant 3.5 overs went without runs.
The foundation of the Black Caps' innings was laid by the 74-run stand for the second wicket between left-hander Colin Munro (46 off 32 balls) and skipper Kane Williamson (32 off 28 balls). Their style of batting was in contrast to each other yet entertaining in its essence.
While Munro was more unorthodox and adventurous in his shot selection, every shot that Williamson hit were copybook ones.

Once both of them departed, it was Corey Anderson (28 off 23 balls), who tried to keep up the pace but didn't succeed entirely.

Anderson hit Adil Rasheed (0/33 in 4 overs) for a straight driven boundary with New Zealand maintaining an 8 per over run-rate till the 15th over. He then hit Liam Plunkett (1/38 in 4 overs) for a six over deep mid-wicket but was finally holed out in the deep by Jordan off Stokes' bowling.
Sent into bat, Martin Guptill (15) started on a positive note getting a couple of boundaries off David Willey but his flashy batting cost him dearly in the left-arm seamer's next over as he tried another heave only to edge one to Jos Buttler behind the stumps.