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Captain Jos Buttler smashed 73 off 47 balls to lead England to 179-6 in their Twenty20 World Cup clash against New Zealand at the Gabba in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Buttler, who was dropped twice during his entertaining knock, passed former captain Eoin Morgan as the highest run-scorer for England in T20 internationals.
But the current English skipper could be left to regret a late clatter of wickets which put a possible score of 200 out of reach in a must-win game for his men.
Buttler won the toss and chose to bat in a match the English realistically need to win to stay in contention for a semi-final place.
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Finch picks up half century in Aus win | 03:44
New Zealand top Group 1 on five points, with England slipping to fourth after wins for Australia on Monday night and Sri Lanka earlier Tuesday.
The English openers started the innings brilliantly, racing to 48-0 at the end of the six-over powerplay.
Alex Hales, who went agonisingly close to being bowled in Trent Boult’s first over, struck the ball incredibly cleanly, racing to his half century in 39 balls.
But one ball after edging Mitch Santner to the boundary to bring up his 50, the New Zealand spinner pushed one wide which the advancing Hales missed, Devon Conway completing the stumping.
Buttler had a reprieve on 40 when Daryl Mitchell dropped a simple catch on the square-leg boundary, the England captain then smashing two fours in succession off the unlucky Lockie Ferguson, before bringing up his half century off 35 balls.
Buttler stayed positive but New Zealand kept taking key wickets to keep the target manageable.
Buttler continued his heroics in the field, taking a spectacular diving catch to dismiss Devon Conway for just three runs.
It built on what was a strong start from England to back up their batting display, with the decision to start with spinner Moeen Ali paying dividends immediately.
England restricted New Zealand to just eight runs through the first two overs.
EXPLAINED: How Australia can progress through to the quarter-finals
INSANE Superman effort stops six! | 00:29
TEAMS:
England: Jos Buttler (capt), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Finn Allen, Kane Williamson (capt), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson
Umpires: Langton Rusere (ZIM), Nitin Menon (IND)
TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS) Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
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SRI LANKA KEEP T20 WORLD CUP HOPES ALIVE
Earlier, Dhananjaya de Silva scored an unbeaten 66 as Sri Lanka kept their slim Twenty20 World Cup hopes alive with a six-wicket win over Afghanistan at the Gabba.
The Asia Cup champions moved to four points in Group 1 and can still make the semi-finals, but they need other results to go their way.
Group 1 leaders New Zealand were playing England, who have three points, after Australia beat Ireland on Monday to move level on five points at the top but behind the Black Caps on net run rate.
The loss means Afghanistan are eliminated as they cannot make the semi-finals with one group match against Australia remaining after having two washouts and a opening defeat to England.
Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and chose to bat but Sri Lanka restricted them to 144-8, thanks largely to a fine spell from leg-spinner and player of the match Wanindu Hasaranga.
The Sri Lankan run chase got off to a poor start when Mujeeb Ur Rahman spun one back to bowl Pathum Nissanka for 10.
Kusal Mendis and de Silva recovered and took the score to 46 before Afghanistan trump card, leg-spinner Rashid Khan, drew a top edge from Mendis, giving keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz a simple catch.
Khan took the next wicket when Charith Asalanka was caught by Azmat Omarzai on the boundary for 19 but by then Sri Lanka had reached 100 and had taken control of the run chase.
De Silva played a perfectly measured innings, scoring his stylish 66 from 42 deliveries to guide the Sri Lankans home.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka was pleased with his side’s efforts with both bat and ball.
“I think we found some consistency today and it is important to continue it in the next game,” Shanaka said.
“The other games are beyond our control, but the aim is to win the next game with a healthy run rate.”
Hasaranga took 3-13 during Afghanistan’s innings, not conceding a boundary in his four-over spell.
Afghanistan batted well in patches and looked on course for a big score, but every time they began to open up, Sri Lanka’s bowlers were able to take key wickers to keep them in check.
Despite six of Afghanistan’s batsmen getting a good start to their innings, none was able to convert to a big score with Usman Ghani’s 27 being the best.
The target of 145 was at least 20 runs short of a competitive total and Sri Lanka cruised home with nine balls to spare when De Silva hit he winning four to take them to 148-4.
“We had a good start in the powerplay but did not keep the momentum till the end,” Nabi said of the Afghanistan effort in the field.
“We tried to put up a good score but the pitch was too slow and we fell short. “We did not bowl the right lines and lengths.”
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