England succumb to sporting Black Caps

Collingwood was reprieved by Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori after carelessly wandering out of his crease, in the 11th over of England's 146 all out, during a four-wicket defeat under lights.

Although Stuart Broad made New Zealand sweat with four wickets, there were still 22.5 overs to spare when Vettori hauled a Broad delivery through the leg-side for four. They sealed the win thanks to rampaging contributions from Brendon McCullum (48) and his opening partner Martin Guptill, who hit 53, which preceded a slide from 84 without loss to 140 for six.

Collingwood went on to top score with 40, the act of generosity when the laws of the game promoted his departure, was not costly for the beleaguered Black Caps.

England's maiden success came when McCullum, who hauled the ball over the rope three times in his quickfire 48, skied to cover off Broad in the 13th over. The successes which followed, all to edges behind, arguably came after the course of the match had been sealed.

Andrew Strauss' team were already slipping towards defeat - and a place in the first semi at Centurion this Friday - when the Collingwood incident took place.

Having been beaten by a brute of a delivery from Kyle Mills, he stepped two yards up the wicket to examine the spot it had landed and wicketkeeper McCullum under-armed the ball into the stumps but Vettori withdrew the appeal following prolonged discussions with his team-mates.

Strauss, Joe Denly and Owais Shah all perished inside the opening half-a-dozen overs after the New Zealanders won the toss.

That meant Eoin Morgan and Collingwood were required to take stock. Despite knuckling down to the situation, however, left-hander Morgan succumbed to Ian Butler's extra bounce, having scored nine off 40 balls.

Collingwood, who cracked three sixes, was also undone by extra lift as he miscued a pull off Elliott to midwicket. Elliott's innocuous-looking medium pace also reaped reward in three of his next four overs as he finished with four for 31, his best haul in one-day international cricket.