New Zealand's qualification in limbo after loss against England; Pakistan stay alive

A superb comeback effort by England helped them edge past New Zealand in their last ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eight clash in Colombo on Friday. Though already through to the semifinal, England once again came up with a resilient performance to beat New Zealand by four wickets.

England's win left New Zealand's qualification hanging in the balance, dependent on whether Pakistan can beat Sri Lanka tomorrow. As it stands, Pakistan must win by 64 runs or complete a run chase in 13.1 overs to lift their net run-rate above the Black Caps and seal a semifinal spot. 

Defending a modest total of 160, New Zealand made a roaring start as Matt Henry got a wicket in his first over yet again. He had Phil Salt nick to the wicketkeeper. Jos Buttler's tough campaign continued as he fell to Lockie Ferguson in the same fashion, and England were 2/2 after just eight balls into the innings.

However, Harry Brook, who became the first captain to hit a century in T20 World Cups in the previous game, calmed some of the early nerves with back to back boundaries against Henry. The second was an extravagant scoop for six. England recovered to 47/2 in powerplay.

Glenn Phillips played a part in dismissing both Brook and Jacob Bethell, who had built a 48-run stand for the third wicket. While he had the English captain holing out at long-off, Phillips pulled off a stunning diving catch to send back Bethell.

New Zealand looked in the drivers' seat with England down to 100/5 but they could not finish the job.

England's batting depth came to the fore yet again as Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed all came up with valuable contributions to take their team to the finish line.

Having absorbed pressure through the innings, Jacks turned the tide in the 18th over, as he took 22 runs off Phillips, New Zealand's main man up until that point.

Asked to bowl first, England spinners had a field day as they restricted New Zealand to 159/7. All New Zealand batters fell to spinners as England deployed 16 overs by spin, their most ever in T20I cricket.

Seasoned campaigner Adil Rashid, who had provided England the breakthrough, finished with 2/28 while Will Jacks continued his great run in the tournament with 2/24.

It was a dream World Cup debut for leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who bagged the wicket of Rachin Ravindra on his very first delivery. In his three overs, he claimed two wickets and conceded 28 runs. Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson joined in the fun with the wicket of Daryl Mitchell.

After a watchful start, Black Caps openers Finn Allen (29) and Tim Seifert (35) stepped on the gas in the fourth over. Jofra Archer had started the innings with a maiden but was taken for 16 runs in his fourth over, as New Zealand raced to 54/0 in powerplay.

It set the tone for the Black Caps innings, who maintained a good scoring rate even when they lost wickets in clusters.

Glenn Phillips was back among the runs as he scored 39 off 28 -- the highest score for his team on the day. He held the innings together in the middle overs with handy partnerships with Ravindra and Mark Chapman.