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The BLACKCAPS have crashed out of the ICC World Twenty20 after their three wicket loss to a rampant England side at Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia.
England held the BLACKCAPS to 149 for six after Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat and then knocked off the runs with five balls to spare.
Eoin Morgan led the charge with a superb 40 off 34 after a solid platform was set by opener Michael Lumb who hit 32 off 21 deliveries.
The run chase got the wobbles towards the end of their inning, losing three quick wickets, but a few lusty blows from all-rounder Tim Bresnan (23* off 11) guided them home.
It was a mixed bag from the BLACKCAPS bowling attack who were so impressive against Pakistan two days ago. Vettori put in his usual miserly display with one for 24 and Styris took two for 16 but the pace bowlers were all expensive.
Ian Butler, the hero against Pakistan, only bowled one over for ten runs, Kyle Mills took one for 32 off 3.1 while Shane Bond returned two for 29 off four.
The BLACKCAPS needed to win the match to progress after Pakistan had defended 148 against South Africa in the previous match.
Earlier, the BLACKCAPS openers got off to a bright start with a 30 run opening stand before Jesse Ryder was bowled by Bresnan for nine.
Aaron Redmond, who came into the side for Martin Guptill, was caught on the boundary for 16. Similarly, Brendon McCullum looked to be clearing the boundary only to be caught for 33, after again looking promising. Both batsmen were guilty of hitting into a strong wind and were caught out by the slightly longer boundaries at Beausejour Stadium.
The partnership of the innings came from Ross Taylor and Styris who put on 62 runs for the fourth wicket. With fielders peppered around the boundary, the pair used field-space wisely, keeping the scoreboard ticking over with ones and twos.
Styris went for 31 off 19 with the score at 127 in the 18th over. With Taylor set at the other end, and plenty of batting to come, New Zealand looked well placed to accelerate in the remaining overs.
It wasn’t to be though as wickets pegged back the BLACKCAPS and the new batsmen struggled to find the rope.
Hopkins (1) then Taylor departed for 44 off 33 and that was effectively the innings over. Nathan McCullum and Daniel Vettori closed things out with three and four respectively with 149 for six a little less than they would have hoped for.
Bresnan was the pick of the England attack with one for 20 off four overs while Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad took two for 31 and two for 33 respectively.
Vettori acknowledged that they missed out with the bat saying, “150 was a competitive total, maybe ten below par and we just couldn’t put enough pressure on in those later stages.
“We did a great job to fight back and put them under pressure but Morgan and Bresnan’s partnership took it away from us.
“We needed to take wickets in clumps and we probably left it a little bit too late.”
Throughout the tournament the BLACKCAPS have lacked that big innings from the top order and today was no different.
“We haven’t been able to put enough runs on the board. We’ve got some really talented batsmen but there just weren’t enough runs. We fought pretty hard with the ball but it wasn’t enough today,” Vettori added.
