England collapse against Kiwis

Chasing New Zealand's competitive total of 164 for nine, England seemed on course to claim the victory which would have boosted their chances of reaching this weekend's semi-finals.

But after reaching 72 for one at the halfway stage of their reply, they suffered two mini-collapses at vital times and were restricted to 159 for eight and England now have to win the match against India and hope other results go in their favour to have any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals on run-rate.

England lost four wickets in as many overs to slump to 106 for five with 6.2 overs remaining, and then lost three more wickets in quick succession in the dying overs.

They had enjoyed their best start of the tournament with Darren Maddy, recalled in place of Jeremy Snape after missing out against South Africa, teaming up with Vikram Solanki in a 62-run opening stand.

Solanki, drafted in as emergency wicketkeeper after Matt Prior was ruled out with a fractured thumb, kept well behind the stumps and then proceeded to hit 24 off 25 balls before driving to long off.

Maddy, though, put his struggles earlier in the tournament behind him to hit 50 off 31 balls before being run out in a mix-up with Kevin Pietersen to start the collapse.

Paul Collingwood followed two overs later after driving to extra cover and Pietersen, returning to the ground where he began his first-class career, was bowled around his legs attempting to sweep New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori.

With Andrew Flintoff falling two balls later after a mix-up with Owais Shah, England's momentum was lost when Luke Wright, who had been relegated down the order after failing in his three innings in the top three, arrived at the crease.

He hit Scott Styris down the ground for six and added 42 with Shah before another collapse ended England's challenge when the Middlesex batsman was run out by Daniel Vettori attempting a scrambled second run.