New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner defended Kane Williamson after the skipper could only manage a run-a-ball 40 against England while they were chasing 180 at the Gabba, Brisbane on Tuesday. The Kiwis lost two early wickets in the run-chase when they had put only 28 runs on the board.
Santner feels the England spinners – Adil Rashid in particular – bowled really well against Williamson to keep him at bay. Williamson could only manage three boundaries in his knock and his strike rate of 100 was just not good enough. The New Zealand skipper added 91 runs with Glenn Phillips but he could not change gear when it mattered the most.
“I think it’s the way England bowled. They bowled very well through the middle there. The spinners bowled very well at Kane,” Santner said in the press conference.
“If you look at the partnership, Glenn [Phillips] was going pretty good, and Kane was kind of, like you said, playing the anchor. We got ourselves into a good position five or six (overs) out, and I think there was a couple of quality overs from Sam Curran and Chris Woakes that took it away from us in the end.”
On the other hand, Phillips had scored a fine hundred against Sri Lanka. The right-hander continued his prime form as he scored another brilliant knock of 62 runs off just 36 balls but he could not get support from the other end.
“We saw what he did last game. He’s a pretty special player and hits kind of funny areas where he’s pretty tough to bowl to at times,” Santner said of Phillips. “We did kind of leave it late, but we had wickets in hand to kind of try to make a surge at the end, I guess once he got out. Then I think Neesham and a few cutters and stuff made it quite hard to score, and it kind of got away from us. I think, if you look at the position we kind of got ourselves in was a good one. I guess the run rate might have been at 12s, but we still had a few wickets in the tank.
“But I think credit goes to the way England bowled there at the end. Woakesy and Sam Curran made it tough to score, and if you can chip wickets out at the end, it kind of dents the momentum.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell Santner scalped one wicket and conceded only 25 runs in his quota of four overs but England was able to post a par score of 179 runs.
New Zealand will next take on Ireland on Friday at Adelaide Oval and they will be able to go through the semifinal stages if they win this game.
