VERDICT: England captain Jos Buttler stamped his authority on his side during their huge T20 World Cup win over New Zealand, with the victory his greatest triumph as skipper so far
What a relief for England to get the win they so badly needed to keep their World Cup dream alive.
But perhaps even more importantly than the two points and boost to their net run rate, was the manner in which they secured the win. It is one thing to talk about taking the handbrake off and being braver with their cricket as they had done in the build up to this game, but it is quite another to live up to the hype and do it.
There is still room for more from this side but the sight of both Alex Hales and Jos Buttler raising their bats for the first and second fifties of the tournament for England and hitting seventeen boundaries between them in the process will be a big confidence boost for the squad.
For Buttler in particular, this was his greatest triumph as an England captain so far and should be a real source of comfort for him in Sydney. On the night that he made his 100th T20 appearance for England and with it also went past Eoin Morgan as the country’s highest run scorer in the format, he could be hugely satisfied with a job brilliantly done.