T20 Cricket World cup semi final 2021: Will luck once again be crucial for England against New Zealand?

England and New Zealand come face to face once again in an ICC World Cup and the history books tell us just how momentous these occasions are.

The last time these two teams encountered each other in an ICC World Cup was probably one of the most memorable and suspenseful matches to have been played in recent years.

England’s win ‘by the barest of margins’ will live in the minds of cricket fans everywhere for a long time to come.

However, England have not just stopped New Zealand from World Cup victory in 2019, but they also halted Kane Williamson’s plans of any World Cup hopes at the T20 World cup in 2016.

New Zealand made it to the final four having beaten the tournament favourites India in the group stages to then be knocked out by england in the semi finals.

Now it would appear that history could be repeating itself as New Zealand once again beat the tournament favourites at this year’s tournament, India, only to then come up against England in the final four once more.

In the 2019 ICC Men’s 50-over World Cup, it cannot be denied that England were blessed with huge helpings of luck in the two battles with the New Zealand squad on their way to becoming ODI World champions.

During the group stage of the tournament, New Zealand were set 306 runs to reach and at 61-2 the pair at the crease - Ross Taylor and Williamson - looked set to stay for a while.

Mark Wood charges down the ground, bowls a full ball which is then sent straight back by Taylor. Wood is then able to reach out, brushing the ball before it flies into the stumps at the other end by which time Williamson has already left his crease.

Williamson is run out by the faintest of touches and sets in motion a complete middle-order collapse leading to England comfortably winning the match by 119 runs.

Speaking after the win, Wood admitted that his fluke dismissal was most likely the only way he would have got New Zealand’s captain out.

England made it to the final and faced New Zealand yet again where, once again, luck was most definitely in their favour.

Ben Stokes was stealing the match away from the New Zealanders when, on 63 runs, he went for a six. The ball should have been comfortably caught by Trent Boult had he not lost his balance at the last moment and fallen over the boundary sending the ball for six.

A few overs later, now needing nine runs off the last six balls with Stokes once again at the crease, the ball was hit over into the covers for what was meant to be just two runs. As the fielder throws the ball back, Stokes runs and dives for safety, sticking out his bat to ensure something is behind the crease, at which point the ball makes contact with Stokes bat, bouncing off and running away for an additional four runs. England then needed three runs off the last two balls.

Eoin Morgan’s squad famously made it to the Super Over which they went on to win when Jos Buttler ran out Martin Guptill.

It is hard to imagine that England could have won the ODI World Cup without the sprinkles of luck that were scattered around throughout the match.

Up until Wednesday 3 November, all had been going swimmingly for England: their World Cup luck seemed to be continuing. They had comfortably won all their group stage matches, with a notable six wicket win over West Indies and an incredible eight wicket win over arguably their fiercest cricketing rivals, Australia.

However, it was then announced that Tymal Mills had suffered a strain to his thigh during England’s 26 run win over Sri Lanka and would be out of the remainder of the tournament.

More blows were yet to come for England as Jason Roy, only the second England player to have made more than 100 runs in the tournament so far, hobbled off the pitch in england’s final Super 12 match against South Africa on Saturday with a later scan revealing that he had torn his calf and he too would be unavailable for any remaining matches.

England then went on to lose their first match of the tournament.

New Zealand’s cricketers must be awaiting the 2pm start of their semi final match in great anticipation with the hope that England’s luck is beginning to wane in this World Cup campaign and they may finally be able to avenge the wrongs they have suffered in previous World cup matches.

The absence of Mills and, in particular Roy, will not be unnoticed by the England camp and whoever is chosen to open the batting with Buttler will have a huge weight on their shoulders.

An opening partnership is crucial if England are to stand a chance against the rising power of the New Zealand cricket team.

If the opening batting line up cracks too soon, they cannot rely on some of their middle-order batters to help them out. While he has had an exceptionally strong captaincy, Eoin Morgan has struggled with his recent T20 form and number 2 ranked T20 batsman, Dawid Malan, has yet to make a significant contribution to his side.

Likewise, Yorkshire batsman Jonny Bairstow who has been coming in as number four has not had a consistent tournament. With only one score in double digits in the competition so far, Bairstow is unlikely to hold up the middle order with much strength if his opening batsmen drop too quickly.

Whoever is set to open with Buttler must endeavour to unsettle the New Zealand bowling attack as much as possible before any lower order batters come into play.

England’s injuries most definitely favour New Zealand in this Semi final, especially with the continued absence of Ben Stokes from the squad, however fans must bide their time to see whether England manage to recover some of that World Cup luck they have previously been gifted as they fight to lift another ICC World Cup Trophy.

England play New Zealand at 2pm GMT at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The match will be available to watch on Sky Sports Cricket and with NOW TV.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.