Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Elliott inspires New Zealand to semi-final spot


Four wickets from Grant Elliott helped New Zealand defeat England by four wickets on Tuesday evening at the ICC Champions Trophy.

And its win was enough to send it to the top of Group B guaranteeing it a semi-final at The Wanderers on Saturday against the second-placed side in Group A.

The result also means that Sri Lanka is eliminated from the competition.

After winning an important toss, England never recovered from losing captain Andrew Strauss to the second delivery of the game as it was dismissed for 146 all out.

Paul Collingwood (40) top scored for England with a belligerent innings, which included three sixes, with Ravi Bopara (30) providing some support, but it was medium pacer Grant Elliott who was the pick of the attack with 4-31, although Shane Bond would have been delighted with his 3-21 in 10 overs.

Brendon McCullum (48) and Martin Guptill (53) then added an excellent 84-run partnership for the first wicket and although Stuart Broad's brilliant spell of 4-39 caused a flurry of late wickets, victory for the Kiwis was never in doubt.

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