Talking Points: One game changing over; two moments of brilliance cruelly denied

MATCH CENTRE | MATCH REPORT

Moeen, Malan disrupt Kiwi plans

Walking in at No.4 after the fall of the in-form Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, along with Dawid Malan, had a task on their hand to rebuild the innings.

In just 43 balls, the duo put up 63 runs, setting up the launching pad for the more dangerous hitters down the order.

Initially, it was just Malan who took the attack to the Kiwi bowlers, finding four boundaries in a span of 10 balls to keep the scoreboard ticking. Ali, on the other hand, struggled initially but ground it out to stay at the crease. Eventually, he too started to find the ropes.

Malan fell nine runs short of his fifty, but by batting through till the 16th over, Malan and Moeen forced New Zealand to change their plans.

With the two left-handers at the crease, Mitchell Santner, one of New Zealand's most potent weapons to keep the runs down in the middle-overs, was limited to just one over.

With Ali batting through till the end and the presence of good spin-hitters in Liam Livingstone and Eoin Morgan, it was too big a risk to bring Santner on in the death.

Kane Williamson instead chose to go with Jimmy Neesham and Glenn Phillips to complete the quota of the four, with Phillips going for 11 runs in his over while Neesham picked up a wicket for 18 in his two overs.

Woakes plays his role to perfection, yet again

Throughout the World Cup, Chris Woakes has been tasked with one job - get wickets in the Powerplay. And more often than not, he has delivered on what was asked of him, with six of his seven wickets in the tournament coming in the first overs.

Against New Zealand, Woakes turned the tide in England's favour inside the first three overs of the chase, scalping the wickets of arguably their two most important batters.

In just the first over, Woakes dismissed Martin Guptill, inducing a leading edge which carried to Ali at mid-on. And in his next over, reaped the rewards of bowling tight lengths, forcing Williamson to do something out of the ordinary. The Kiwi skipper attempted a ramp shot that didn't connect well, going into the hands of Adil Rashid at short fine.

Thankfully for the Black Caps, the rest of the batting put their hands up and took them to the semi-finals.

Two (almost) moments of brilliance from England

There have been some sensational displays of fielding throughout the tournament with the bar being set very high. Several games have been decided on these moments and the first semi-final was no different.

In the 12th over, Chris Jordan almost pulled off a blinder but was unlucky as he couldn't do enough to save the six. He did everything right that a fielder saving a six on the boundary would have had to do - he placed himself perfectly, he timed his jump to perfection, got good air-time and almost managed to get the ball back into play.

Unfortunately, he couldn't throw the ball back cleanly, as a result of which the ball hit the boundary cushion for a six.

The second missed opportunity was perhaps the turning point of the game. This time, it was Jordan who was bowling. Jimmy Neesham swung hard at the short ball, swatting it into the gap between long-on and deep mid-wicket. Jonny Bairstow, stationed at long-on, sprinted to this left and caught the ball while tumbling before relaying it to Livingstone running in from deep mid-wicket.

However, replays showed that Bairstow had already made contact with the ropes as he fell, giving New Zealand another six and taking them closer to victory.

Neesham changes the game

Jimmy Neesham walked in after Glenn Phillips fell in the 16th over to Livingstone. Livingstone kept the over to just three runs, leaving New Zealand to chase 57 in the last four overs.

Neesham, at that point, had no choice but to go big. Thankfully for Neesham, the first ball was in the slot and he punished it by smashing it over square for a maximum. Two legs byes and a wide later, Jordan missed the yorker by the barest of margins, and Neesham tonked it over the bowler's head for a four.

Jordan almost got revenge on the fourth ball of the over, but what looked like a stunning relay catch turned into a six as Bairstow failed to keep himself inside the ropes.

Even though the last two balls did not fetch any boundary, Neesham had done enough damage as New Zealand scored 23 runs in the over, which was England's most expensive over in the tournament.

Though Neesham was dismissed in the next over, his 27-run cameo in just 11 balls turned the game completely in New Zealand's favour.

Daryl Mitchell eventually finished the game off, taking the Black Caps to their third ICC final in three years.