Black Caps hit by Cyclone Roy crash to seven-wicket defeat

DELHI: A cyclone by the name of Jason Roy destroyed whatever hopes New Zealand had of reaching a World T20 final when he smashed a brilliant 78 off 44 balls with 11 fours and two sixes to steer England to a seven-wicket win in the first semi-final played at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds, here on Wednesday.

Roy, who apparently is the Surrey team mate of former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara waded into the New Zealand bowlers from the beginning taking four fours off the first over bowled by Corey Anderson and did not look back since until he was dismissed in the 13th over. By that time the damage was done and England were smelling victory.

Roy who eventually picked up the Man of the Match award had an answer to everything that New Zealand threw at him and made the target of 154 look pretty small as England sped home with 17 balls to spare.

England will meet the winners of the second semi-final between India and West Indies scheduled for Thursday at Mumbai. The final will be played at Eden Gardens Kolkata on April 3.

Roy and Alex Hales gave England a blistering start posting 82 off only 8.2 overs where Hales’ share in the partnership was 20 off 19 balls.

New Zealand managed to pull back the scoring rate when left-arm spinner Ish Sodhi sent back Roy for 78 and England captain Eoin Morgan for a first ball duck off successive deliveries.

But the openers had done enough for England not to take any undue risks. Joe Root and Jos Buttler saw them home and into a second final. The previous occasion England reached a World T20 final in 2010, they emerged champions beating Australia in the final.

To New Zealand’s dismay Root and Buttler continued from where Roy left off. They attacked the spinners and Sodhi went for 22 in the 17th over when Buttler smashed him for two sixes and two fours. The England wicket-keeper finished the match off in style when he crashed a short delivery from Santner over midwicket for six.

Root was unbeaten on 27 and Buttler on 32 not out.

New Zealand hadn’t been in such a deep hole the entire tournament and yesterday was a true test of their character and, they came off second best.

If Roy laid the platform for England’s facile victory, it was their bowlers who came back strongly in the second half of the innings to strangle New Zealand and restrict them to a total of 153-8.

No one would have thought that New Zealand would end up with only that much when at the end of the halfway stage they were 89-1 – courtesy a Kane Williamson (32) and Colin Munro (46) 74-run partnership.

But England’s attack put on a solid collective effort to drag things back their way. Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes took 5 for 20 from the last four overs to choke New Zealand and leave them in tatters as they managed only 64 off the last 10 losing seven wickets.

A total of 153, New Zealand’s bowlers had defended before but not with Roy in the mood he was. He was simply devastating and New Zealand had no answer to his calculated assault.