Wood, Rashid star as England beat New Zealand by 13 runs
October 20, 2021 08:17 PM
Mark Wood and Adil Rashid impressed as England beat New Zealand by 13 runs in their final Men's T20 World Cup warm-up game in Abu Dhabi. Pace bowler Wood took 4-23 and leg-spinner Rashid 3-18 as New Zealand, chasing 164, were bowled out for 150.
Opener Jos Buttler hit 73 as England posted 163-6 from their 20 overs, but some of the top order struggled. England begin their T20 World Cup campaign against defending champions West Indies on Saturday at 15:00 GMT.
Opener Jason Roy fell to the first ball of the match and Eoin Morgan, returning to captain the team after his stint at the Indian Premier League, looked patchy in making 10. However, Buttler hit 11 fours and two sixes to get England's innings going, before Sam Billings' unbeaten 27 from just 17 balls propelled them forward in the final overs.
Any significant worries over the form of Dawid Malan (11 off 15) and Eoin Morgan (10 off 11) were not eased as the left-handers fell lbw on the reverse sweep to leg-spinner Sodhi (3-26) - although Morgan was unfortunate having seemingly got bat on ball before it thudded into his pad.
Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi impressed for New Zealand with 3-26, while Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson took a wicket apiece. Martin Guptill smashed 40 from 20 balls at the top of the order but New Zealand struggled against Rashid as he stifled the run-rate.
All-rounder Liam Livingstone played after injuring his finger in Monday's warm-up match against India and took 1-29. India beat Australia by eight wickets in their warm-up match, with stand-in captain Rohit Sharma making 60 from 41 balls.