New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner is confident his side can still advance to the next phase of the Twenty20 World Cup despite their 20-run defeat to England in Brisbane on Tuesday.
The Black Caps, runners-up to Australia in 2021, must beat Ireland in their final Super 12 match in Adelaide on Friday to be sure of progressing. Ireland have already provided a couple of upsets at the tournament, seeing off West Indies to qualify for the Super 12 phase before beating England last week, but Santner says New Zealand should get the job done.
“I guess we’re still in a pretty good position,” he said. “We’ll obviously reflect on tonight, what went well, what didn’t go so well, and move on to Ireland in a few days time on a different wicket, different place. “They’ve shown us they’re a pretty quality side, so we have to be firing to beat them.”
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New Zealand top Group 1 ahead of England and Australia thanks to a superior net run rate with one round of matches remaining. Only the top two finishers advance to the semis. Ireland are two points off top spot and could still advance with a win over the New Zealanders. “We’ve seen throughout this tournament there’s been upsets,” said Santner.
“I guess the nature of T20 cricket, if one or two guys step up on the day, they can kind of turn games. “So we know Ireland are a very good team. We’re not sure what Adelaide is going to give us, but we’ll do our prep and see what we’re going to get against and format a plan against a pretty good side.”
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