2019 Cricket World Cup: Black Caps hit back at 'go-slow' claims in loss to England

By Niall Anderson at Chester-le-Street

The Black Caps have denied that they purposefully took their foot off the gas to protect their net run rate instead of chasing a Cricket World Cup win over England.

Set 306 for victory, the Black Caps were bowled out for 186 in 45 overs. It was a close enough margin to practically secure a semifinal spot, but an apparent "go-slow" from the middle order led to speculation from commentators and fans as to whether the Black Caps had quit on the chase in order to protect their net run rate, and make it near impossible for Pakistan to surpass them for the fourth semifinal spot.

The period in question came after the dismissal of Colin de Grandhomme, with the Black Caps at 128-6, requiring eight runs an over, with 22 overs remaining. New Zealand's last recognised batsman, Mitchell Santner, joined Tom Latham at the crease, and as the run rate continued to rise, the pair combined to hit just one boundary in the next 53 deliveries.

At one stage, Santner was on three off 22 balls, and by the time Latham departed after a well-made 57, the required run rate had reached 12 an over, with the pair adding just 36 in 62 balls from a pivotal period from overs 29-39.

However, Black Caps captain Kane Williamson asserted that net run rate never came into the team's thought process during the chase.

"No, no, we were trying to obviously win the game, but we didn't do a very good job of it and it was a tough one, really," said Williamson.

"Going into that second half we just needed a couple of big partnerships, certainly from the top order, and it wasn't there.

"By no means was it an easy surface to try and gain momentum but at the same time it was important as a batting unit we were able to try and take the game to a position where you might give yourself a chance to win it, but we weren't able to do that."

Martin Guptill and Trent Boult shake hands as Kane Williamson looks on. Photo / Photosport

Williamson was backed up by his fellow batsmen, though they revealed that the batting tail may have started to take net run rate into consideration once the game was realistically out of reach.

Jimmy Neesham said the conversation never came up while he was batting.

"We talked – me and Tommy – about putting a partnership together and giving us a chance to have a death phase – I think we were going around about six an over when we were together, and then I try and stay out of conversations as much as I can once the game's done. I think there was potentially a little bit of talk about that amongst the bottom three.

"We knew going into the game around about what the equations were, but that certainly didn't cloud our preparation going into the game – we were trying to win and unfortunately England were too good today."

Latham said the discussion only came up once their realistic hopes of victory were vanquished.

"When we were losing a couple of wickets towards the back end it was about trying to drag things out as long as possible, and we managed to get to the [45th] over. Obviously it's now up to that Pakistan game."

Despite the big defeat, Pakistan need to beat Bangladesh by more than 300 runs this weekend in order to knock New Zealand out of the semifinals.

The Alternative Commentary Collective are podcasting their way through the World Cup. Known for their unconventional sports analysis and off-kilter banter, the ACC have come to ask the tough questions. Here's the latest episode of 'The Agenda':

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT