England’s Rehan Ahmed and Will Jacks shakes hands with New Zealand’s captain Mitchel Santner and Matt Henry after winning the T20 World Cup cricket match against New Zealand in Colombo, Sri Lanka on February 27, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP
Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed emerged as unlikely heroes for England and landed a sucker punch on New Zealand with their unbeaten 44-run seventh-wicket alliance, snatching a four-wicket win in their T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eight Group 2 match at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Friday (February 27, 2026).
With 43 needed off the final three overs, Rehan launched the incursion against Glenn Phillips with a waft over long on. Jacks made the most of short-pitched bowling to dispatch a maximum over long-on and two consecutive boundaries — first down the ground and then square-leg.
After Rehan’s reverse-sweep over short third and a swat over long-off in Mitchell Santner’s over, England was just five short of the 160-run target, with six balls in hand. Matt Henry’s bouncer ploy could only delay the inevitable for two balls, before Jacks’ glance down fine-leg got England the winning runs.
The dramatic turnaround kept Pakistan alive in the tournament while England topped the group.
Tom Banton and Sam Curran’s 42-run stand for the fifth wicket and Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell’s 48-run third-wicket partnership were just as important in England’s win.
In the first innings, England’s spinners applied a timely squeeze on a flourishing innings.
After the openers provided a steady platform, Phillips began to hunt against the spinners, picking full-length deliveries for quick runs. The highlight was his no-look shot against Adil Rashid, which sent a googly deep into the stands over midwicket.
But England’s insistence with spin paid off, and wickets at the other end eventually forced Phillips into an error.
New Zealand lost Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell in the space of 12 runs. The squeeze around the Kiwis was firmly in place by the time Phillips departed in the 18th over. Santner and McConchie eked out 24 runs off the last three overs, but that was far less than what England would manage later in the evening.
The scores: New Zealand 159/7 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 35, Glenn Phillips 39, Adil Rashid 2/28, Will Jacks 2/23, Rehan Ahmed 2/28) lost to England 161/6 in 19.3 overs (Tom Banton 33, Will Jacks 32 n.o., Rachin Ravindra 3/19).
Toss: New Zealand; PoM: Jacks.
Published – February 27, 2026 06:59 pm IST
