World T-20 Day 5: Rain marches on! as New Zealand and England progress.

The rain Gods brought no respite for cricket fans as New Zealand and England qualified for the Super 8′s. As a consequence, two minnows who had put up a brave face are now out of the tournament.

Day 6 will be the last playing day of the Group Stage.

In the first match, Zimbabwe folded to a measly 84 after having a good start. They utilized the power-play very well scoring 60 runs in the first six overs. However, after a good opening partnership the next 9 wickets fell in a span of 27 runs. For the kiwis, the target was reduced to a mere 40 runs from 10 overs. Brendon McCullum along with Guptill knocked off the target within 8.1 overs. The pitch was slow, hence the Zimbabwe batsman failed to keep up the momentum their openers had provided. Nathan McCullum and Styris snared 3 wickets each.

In the second match, Ireland bowlers impressed leaving England reeling at 90 with 5 wickets down. A partnership between Morgan(45) and Wright(20) made the England score card respectable. The Ireland bowlers toiled well and gave their batsman an easy 121 to win.

Eoin Morgan continued his top form when other batsmen reeled under pressure.

The rain played spoiolsport again, stopping play immediately after the first over was bowled. Only 3.3 overs were bowled, which was below the necessary 5 overs to be bowled to apply the D/L method.

The game was abandoned with both the teams earning one point each. Ireland will rue this golden opportunity and England would sigh a heave of relief as they make it to the Super Eights stage.

Edited by : Arpit Kumar