Jimmy Neesham was left in misery when New Zealand lost the 2019 World Cup final to England on the boundary count rule. In the Super Over, he had scored 13 of the 16 runs they needed to win. Martin Guptill, facing the penultimate delivery, had one run off a wide. But was run out trying to get back for the second.
Daryl Mitchell, who turned 28 just a few months ago. This made his T20I debut against India earlier this year but was yet to play an ODI. Two years later, the pair of seam-bowling all-rounders led New Zealand to a historic T20 World Cup semi-final victory against England.
After 16 overs of New Zealand’s 167-run chase against England. The victory seemed a long way off for the Kane Williamson-led team. Another misery at England’s hands appeared to be in the cards.
No team had ever chased 57 runs off the final four overs of a T20I before Wednesday. The highest total was 56, which Australia reached against Pakistan in 2010 and Zimbabwe achieved against Scotland earlier this year. So it was Neesham and Mitchell’s assignment.
Neesham then went on to hammer 27 off 11 to completely turn the match around. Mitchell smashed a boundary to send New Zealand to victory and a berth in the final with an over to spare, going from 46 off 40 to 72 off 47.
James Neesham
James Neesham had shown promise in his Test debut against India, making a century, only to be overshadowed by Brendan McCullum’s magnificent triple century. Since then, he has failed to truly put the globe on fire, with only a few notable match-winning performances.
In reality, he nearly retired from cricket in 2017 owing to poor form and injury issues, but he returned for New Zealand in 2019.
In recent years, though, he has personified the spirit of New Zealand cricket. Neesham has put in the hard work with the ball, chipping in as much as he could with the bat, and being outstanding on the field. Despite this, he didn’t have a huge moment that he could truly call his own. That was before the story shifted in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
New Zealand has struggled to score runs against England’s tight bowling. Chris Woakes sent Martin Guptill, the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is, and their stalwart captain Kane Williamson back early.
Devon Conway scored 46 runs, while Mitchell struggled to find his rhythm on the other end as the necessary run rate increased with each over.
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