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England Spinners Dominate as New Zealand Stumble to 159/7 in T20 WC Clash

England's spin trio of Adil Rashid, Will Jacks, and Rehan Ahmed shared six wickets to restrict New Zealand to 159/7 in their 20 overs. New Zealand's strong start, led by a 64-run opening partnership between Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, was undone by regular wickets in the middle overs. Glenn Phillips offered the only significant resistance with a brisk 39, but lacked consistent support from other batters. The Kiwis collapsed in the latter stages, losing their last four wickets cheaply to finish well below a competitive total.

Key Points: England vs New Zealand T20 WC 2026: Spinners Restrict NZ to 159/7

  • England spinners take 6 wickets
  • NZ openers put on 64-run stand
  • Glenn Phillips top-scores with 39
  • NZ lose last 4 wickets for 36 runs
3 min read

T20 WC: Rashid, Jacks, and Ahmed help England restrict New Zealand to 159/7

Adil Rashid, Will Jacks, and Rehan Ahmed take two wickets each as England restrict New Zealand to 159/7 in a crucial T20 World Cup Super 8s match.

"Rashid, Jacks, and Ahmed picked two wickets each to reduce New Zealand to 159/7 - Match Report"

Colombo, Feb 27

Adil Rashid, Will Jacks, and Rehan Ahmed picked two wickets each as England reduced New Zealand to 159/7 in 20 overs in the Group 2 Super 8s clash of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday.

Electing to bat first, New Zealand began their innings strongly. Jofra Archer delivered a solid first over but soon lost his control. Both Finn Allen and Tim Seifert settled in and countered some great bowling from Sam Curran and Liam Dawson. They put pressure on the English bowlers after the first over yielded no runs.

Starting with a zero run in their first over, New Zealand scored 54 runs in the next five overs to complete the mandatory batting Power-play. This was the first time in seven games that the English bowlers did not take a wicket during this period.

Adil Rashid broke the opening partnership of 64 runs with a brave, teasing delivery that drew Tim Seifert (35) out of his crease. With 41 wickets in the ICC Men's T20 World Cups under his name, Rashid moved closer to catching the record for most wickets (Shakib Al Hasan) and also moved ahead of Wanindu Hasaranga on the all-time list. Currently, only Adam Zampa (44) and Rashid Khan (43) are ahead of him.

Will Jacks struck in his very first over as Finn Allen (29) holed out in the deep, finding Jacob Bethell to end his stay. It was a lapse in judgment from Allen, and with that dismissal, both set batters were back in the hut in quick succession, halting New Zealand's flying start.

After the openers departed, all-rounder Glenn Philips was the lone batter to show some resistance against England's quality spin and stitched a partnership of 31 runs with Rachin Ravindra (11), who mistimed a pull shot to mid-wicket off Rehan Ahmed. Mark Chapman (15) then added 26 runs with Philips, but soon he too departed as the Kiwis continued to lose wickets.

Will Jacks ended a remarkable performance for England by taking his second wicket of the night. He dismissed Phillips, who scored a solid 39 off 28 balls, as England continued to apply pressure at the end of the innings. With New Zealand losing their sixth wicket, their inning started to fall apart.

The Kiwis' innings never recovered as they lost the last four wickets for mere 36 runs as Rashid, Jacks, and Ahmed picked two wickets each to reduce New Zealand to 159/7.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 159/7 in 20 overs (Glenn Philips 39, Tim Seifert 35; Will Jacks 2-23, Adil Rashid 2-28) against England.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

S
Sarah B
Watching from the US. The spin trio of Rashid, Jacks, and Ahmed was clinical. That collapse from 123/3 to 159/7 shows the pressure they built. Phillips played a lone hand. England looking strong for the knockouts.
P
Priyanka N
Adil Rashid is pure class! Moving up the all-time wicket-takers list is no joke. But I have to say, the Kiwi batting was a bit disappointing. They had a solid start and then just threw it away. Allen's dismissal was so unnecessary!
A
Aman W
159 is a very chaseable target on most grounds. England will be favorites now. Interesting to see how the pitch plays in the second innings. Spinners getting purchase in Colombo is expected, but England handled it better.
K
Karthik V
Respectful criticism: The article focuses a lot on England's bowlers (and rightly so), but it barely mentions the poor shot selection from NZ batters, especially after the Powerplay. That was the real story. They lost the plot completely.
M
Michael C
Will Jacks with a very underrated performance. 2-23 in 4 overs in a T20 is excellent. He and Rashid completely strangled the middle overs. New Zealand needed someone to play a Hardik Pandya or Suryakumar Yadav kind of knock today, but it didn't happen.

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