It would be daft to get too excited at England grabbing their semi-final slot days before anyone else. This does not guarantee a romp to the final and then the trophy. But the current climate makes a change to the agonising postmortems that accompanied England’s early flight home from the 2015 World Cup.
The margin of New Zealand’s defeat in Cardiff – 87 runs – was misleading. After 30 overs of their run chase the Kiwis were 156 for two in pursuit of 311; Kane Williamson, after some early scares, was cruising with Ross Taylor in his wake. There was no sign of an imminent capsize.
Related: Mark Wood ends England’s long search for game-changing bowler | Ali Martin
Related: Jos Buttler keen for England to put Australia out of Champions Trophy
Continue reading...