England vs New Zealand LIVE T20 World Cup cricket result and reaction as England keep hopes alive

Buttler chips the first ball of the over to cover where Kane Williamson gratefully accepts the catch running back towards the boundary. But it’s checked, and the replay shows the ball bounced as the Kiwi captain slid across the grass before he finally held on to it. Buttler walks away and is then invited back to the crease, and Williamson sheepishly apologises for claiming that as a legitimate catch. Perhaps he didn’t quite realise what happened as he was sliding. Either way, a poor miss and a big let-off for England’s captain.

Alex Hales batters the first ball of Southee’s second over for four over long-on. There’s a battle on here, as Southee offers a slower ball which Hales misses entirely, but with the very next ball the batter steps away from his stumps and gives himself room to crack over covers for four more – and again with the next ball! Phenomenal from Hales and now Southee has to think hard about the final two deliveries: the first is hit straight to point for a dot, and the final delivery is knocked for a single.

Mitchell Santner comes into the attack and, after a Buttler single, brings up three dots with a tight line. Hales has a swing at the fifth ball and inside edges on to his pads before running a single. Buttler pinches two off the last with a little prod to a gap in the leg-side.

Trent Boult with a fierce over of swing bowling. Buttler pinches a single from the third ball before Hales nervily avoids a couple of threatening deliveries which hoop in different directions. It looks like being a momentum killer of an over until Hales bunts the final ball high down the ground for four.

Tim Southee bowls a loose one first up which Hales pushes away for a couple, before whipping one to the leg-side boundary for four a couple of balls later. A good start for England.

Trent Boult immediately gets the ball swinging to England captain Jos Buttler, but Buttler gets his bat on the second delivery for three. Alex Hales survives the rest of the over, and survives is the word, with a slash towards the off-side which comes off his inside edge and narrowly misses his stumps, running for four. Hales then pushes one through cover for two, and England are up and running, just about.

Trent Boult has ball in hand, here we go...

An unchanged England have elected to bat first in this crunch T20 World Cup clash against New Zealand at Brisbane.

England have gone with the same XI that suffered a shock defeat against Ireland but while they are a team who typically prefer to chase, playing on a used Gabba pitch has prompted a change in strategy.

New Zealand can guarantee semi-final qualification with a win and they named the same XI that beat Sri Lanka last time out.

England know a loss at a ground where they have historically struggled - they have won just two Ashes Tests here since the end of the Second World War - would all but end their hopes of a top-two finish in their Super 12s group.

Play moments away at a packed Gabba! Here come the anthems.

England: Jos Buttler (c & wk), Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.

et run-rate will be the deciding factor if more than two teams finish on the same number of points, which could be the case in Group 1. In the final group fixtures New Zealand face Ireland, Australia take on Afghanistan and England play Sri Lanka. Should England win today there will be three teams level on five points meaning the two qualifiers will be decided by the final matches and, most probably, net run-rate. Yet that is a problem for the future as England will be focused on winning today’s encounter first and foremost.