Finn Allen’s awesome 33-ball century helps New Zealand into the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final, following a nine-wicket victory over South Africa at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
New Zealand and South Africa have always been competitive sides in ICC tournaments, both reaching 14 semi-finals.
But even though the Proteas put a competitive score of 169-8, the Kiwis’ opening stand of 117 between Allen and Tim Seifert was the killer blow for Aiden Markram’s side.
You could also say that being 77-5, before Marco Jansen dragged them out of a hole with his remarkable 55 of 30, was the real killer blow for South Africa.
But the real damage was done by New Zealand’s openers, who scored 57-0 in the powerplay.
Whenever you chase down a score of 170-180 or more, you need your opening pair to get off to a fast start in the first six overs.
That way, it makes it easier for the rest of the team to chase it down.
What also makes the chase easier is keeping most of your wickets in hand. This allows the rest of the batters to play freely without worrying about losing their wicket.
It was a real masterclass on how to chase down a score in this format, from Mitchell Santner’s side.
Reaction
After the game, the Kiwis Captain lauded his Opener’s performance, especially in the powerplay.
When you see how good South Africa are, to put on a performance like that in a crunch game is pretty pleasing. I guess today was just about trying to keep pressure on throughout, and when you take wickets consistently, it’s a challenge to keep going with the bat. We were very happy with 170 going into the break, but in T20, you never know. Wickets on the powerplay would have made it a challenge. But they took it on. And Finny just carried on.
Santner: ESPN Cricinfo
For his terrific match-winning knock, Allen was named Player Of The Match
Just tried to get in good positions and perform for the team. [The plan for the opening partnership] We wanted to start well and put them on the back foot early. Easy for me when Timmy is going like that. I can just watch and get him on strike. He batted on a flyer. Huge game for us. Timmy and I just kept ensuring we’re looking straight and going hard. [On adapting to different pitches and being aggressive] You adapt to the wicket. Training is really important to get a feel of the wicket. We knew it would be black soil, we had that intel. Shows how important that series was before the World Cup. [On getting to the final] You take the positives from the game and celebrate a little but you have a final to look forward to on Sunday.
Allen: ESPN Cricinfo
The Proteas Captain praised New Zealand’s bowlers and Allen’s unbelievable knock, which proved to be the difference between the two sides.
“I think you look at the conditions and they bowled really well up front. Credit to their bowling unit. And obviously when someone plays an innings like that, you don’t often come out on the right side of that. To get to 170 was a great effort to be fair. As it goes in T20 cricket, they got off to a flyer in the powerplay. Massive credit to Finn Allen’s knock and Seifert’s knock to kill the game off as early as they did. I think we expected the wicket to play really well, looked really good to the eye. Maybe we had to try and scrape our way to 190 and we’d be in the game. Obviously disappointed in the result but really proud of these guys. Played so well in this tournament. I think we’ll let the emotions settle first and foremost and then have a discussion as a group. You get back on the horse and come back. Hugely disappointed. We’ll have to come out stronger and be better as a team.”
Markram: ESPN Cricinfo
Powerplay Makes The Difference
In T20 cricket, it is the power play that can potentially be a big factor in the outcome of a match.
South Africa’s score was 48-2 batting first, New Zealand bettered that with 84-0.
The fact that the Kiwis did not lose any wickets was a real bonus, especially when they were attacking in the powerplay.
The powerplay sets the tone of what the outcome of the innings may look like for both sides.
The fact that New Zealand won both powerplays was the key difference between the two teams in the end.
So, with the Kiwis in the final, it’ll be interesting to see who joins them.
Will it be England or India?
Find out on World In Sport.