Will Jacks Calls 4th POTM Award "The Best" After England's Tense T20 Win

During the post-match presentation, reflecting on the high-pressure situation, Jacks said he was "absolutely buzzing" with the performance, admitting the game was finely poised when he walked in to bat.

"I reckon this is the best (of his four POTM awards). Absolutely buzzing with that. When I went in there, it was on a knife's edge. Over the moon. Was about keeping it simple. Rehan played a brilliant innings. That six he hit, second ball off Phillips, upped the ante and put them on the back foot. That over of Phillips we spoke about taking a risk. Off-spinner to right-handers was our match-up. Feel really confident right now. Feel calm in the middle, which is like another string in the bow. Three wins in the Super Eights against three strong sides, we're very happy," Jacks said.

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner acknowledged that England held their nerve better in key moments as the Black Caps suffered a narrow defeat.

Reflecting on the match, Santner admitted that while New Zealand played well, there were critical moments with both bat and ball that could have tilted the result in their favour.

"That was a good match. Yeah, yeah, I mean, obviously, it would have been easier if we made our lives easy if we won. But again, you know, we played a pretty good game. There are obviously moments, both with the bat and the ball, that you can probably look back on and kind of turn the game loss a little bit. But again, yeah, credit to England and the way they played," Mitchell Santner said.

England captain Harry Brook praised teammate Will Jacks after the all-rounder claimed his fourth Player of the Match award of the tournament, saying the milestone left him delighted following another match-winning performance.

"Yeah, Jack's who's got his fourth man of the match, in this tournament, which is the most ever, he's just told me, so he's pretty happy with that performance," Brook said after England sealed their Super 8 victory.

Brook added, "Yeah, and there are conversations to be had, but we said from the start of the comp, when we said it to the group, we're going to select on conditions, and we thought that today was the perfect opportunity to bring him in, and he did an amazing job.

Looking ahead to the semi-final, Brook insisted England are unfazed about facing either India or the West Indies. "We're not bothered. We're just going to go out there, and whoever we're facing, they're going to be a tough opponent anyway. We've already played against the West Indies in the warm-up game, so a little bit of experience there. It's nice to go back to a ground that we've already played on as well. So yeah, both sides are very strong, very powerful teams, and we've just got to go out there and try and do the little things well again," he said.

New Zealand posted a fighting total of 159 after batting first. The Black Caps recovered from a mid-innings slump after a brisk start by openers Finn Allen (35) and Tim Seifert (29).

While the Black Caps looked set for a bigger score at one stage, England's bowlers, led by Adil Rashid and Will Jacks, struck at regular intervals to pull things back and restrict the visitors to a manageable total.

For England, Liam Dawson (1/32), Adil Rashid (2/28), Will Jacks (2/23), and Rehan Ahmed (2/28) were among the wicket-takers.

Chasing, captain Harry Brook (26), Jacob Bethell (21), Tom Banton (33), Sam Curran (24), and Will Jacks (32*) played fighting knocks as the Three Lions secured a close win by four wickets.

- ANI