New Zealand beat England by five runs to squeak home in their Twenty20 World Championship Super Eight match at Kingsmead in Durban on Tuesday.
It was more a case of England throwing away a probable victory — crazy run outs and some reckless batting cost England important wickets — and a possible place in the semifinals.
Chasing 165 to win, England started well, with a first-wicket stand of 62 between Darren Maddy and Vikram Solanki, before Solanki was caught by Lou Vincent off Daniel Vettori for 24.
Maddy was next to go when he was run out by Chris Martin and Craig McMillan going for a suicidal run, just after he had made 50. His half century came off 31 balls and included four boundaries and two sixes.
Paul Collingwood did not last long before he was brilliantly caught at midwicket by McMillan off Martin for three.
Pietersen looked set to make a big score until he attempted to reverse sweep Vettori only to see the ball smash into his wicket. He made 24.
After 15 overs, England appeared to be coasting to victory on 119-5, needing 46 runs off the last five overs, but when three wickets fell in the 19th over, with Owais Shah needlessly run out by Vettori and McMillan, and Dimitry Mascarenhas and Luke Wright both caught in the deep by substitute Jeetan Patel off Shane Bond, it was all over for England.
Despite bowling the only extra of the innings, Mark Gillespie, backed up by the New Zealand fielders, managed to keep it down to 10 runs off the last over, and New Zealand claimed victory by five runs.
It was an imperfect performance by New Zealand, with some very sloppy fielding in the early part of England’s reply.
Earlier, New Zealand made a competitive 164-9 after an awful start in which they stuttered to 31-4 after six overs. But a partnership of 60 between Craig McMillan and Scott Styris brought an injection of runs and saw New Zealand come back into the game.
Styris made 42 off 31 balls, including a four and four sixes, while McMillan hammered three fours and four sixes on his way to 57 before he caught by Mascarenhas off Maddy.
James Anderson was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2-24 in his overs, while Maddy took 2-6 in one over. — Sapa