England Vs New Zealand, ICC T20 World Cup 2026: Kiwis Eye Semi-Final Berth In Colombo

New Zealand is set to face England in a crucial Super Eights match for them at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday, February 26, 2026.

With back-to-back wins in the first two matches, England have already sealed a spot in the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup. On the other hand, New Zealand registered a thumping 61-run win over Sri Lanka in their last fixture but have three points in two matches as their first match against got washed out.

The huge 61-run win over Sri Lanka has elevated New Zealand's net run-rate to +3.050 and to ensure that they progress, the Kiwis have to just avoid a heavy defeat.

Pakistan, after their defeat to England, have a net run-rate of -0.461 and would not only need New Zealand to lose badly but also have to beat Sri Lanka by a heavy margin to eclipse the Black Caps' NRR.

New Zealand have shown that they are comfortable playing against as many six spinners in the match versus Sri Lanka. They actually beat the co-hosts in their own game.

New Zealand are not renowned to play spin well yet they adapted to the conditions quite well at Colombo and negated six Sri Lankan spinners to beat them at their own game.

While Brook and Will Jacks have both been comfortable against the likes of Saim Ayub, Mohammed Nawaz and Shadab Khan, New Zealanders Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Cole McConchie could prove to be more handy on a slightly tackier Premadasa track compared to Pallekele.

Harry Brook has been in sublime form and his match-winning ton in the last game gave a major boost to their batting line-up. However, Jos Buttler's poor run with the bat would be a concern for the management and they would like the veteran to get some runs with the bat before the all-important semi-final.

At the other end, the off-spin of Jacks and the left-arm spin of Liam Dawson could be equally challenging for the Kiwis.

At Premadasa, anything in the range of 165 to 175 can be considered a winning score if the spinners are in operation.

"You're always confident going into these fixtures, especially when we know what the surface is going to be like, but I think it'd be silly to underestimate England at any point," Black Caps all-rounder Rachin Ravindra said after his match-winning performance against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

"They're obviously such a quality unit, and they've shown this in bowling, and how well they've been bowling. I mean, they've got world class batters throughout their order.So it's nothing necessarily like that," he added.

But he was well aware that Friday is a new day and it will be a new challenge for the New Zealand team.

"Obviously, we'll take confidence from today and move on, but realize in two days' time it's a different challenge and hopefully we can be up for it," Rachin said.

England Vs New Zealand Super 8, T20 World Cup 2026: Squads

England: Harry Brook (captain), Jos Buttler (wk), Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, Like Wood

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (captain), Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, Cole McConchie, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi.

The live action begin from 7:00 PM IST.