T20 World Cup 2026, Match 49: Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed help England seal thrilling see-saw chase

Match Overview

England and New Zealand faced off in Match 49 of the T20 World Cup 2026 at Colombo's R. Premadasa Stadium. Winning the toss, New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner opted to bat.

New Zealand flew off the blocks quickly as openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen provided them a typically fluent start. Allen dispatched Jofra Archer's slower one over mid-on for a six to get going and then stepped out against Liam Dawson to dispatch him down the ground with disdain. Seifert joined the party in the fifth over, smacking Archer for two consecutive fours through covers and mid-off before launching a six over midwicket.

Seifert sent Adil Rashid for a flat six over long to maintain the tempo even after the powerplay, but the leg-spinner coaxed the batter out with a loopy one to have him stumped, breaking the 64-run opening stand as Seifert walked back for 35 off 25. In the next over, England's crisis man Will Jacks had Allen caught at deep midwicket for 29 off 19.

However, Glenn Philips ensured that New Zealand did not lose momentum, dispatching Rashid for a four and six off consecutive deliveries in the next over. While Philips kept finding the boundaries, Rachin Ravindra looked scratchy in his 13-ball 11 before miscuing Rehan Ahmed's googly to be caught in the deep. Rehan, playing his first game in the tournament, struck on his very first ball.

From that point, England tightened the noose as New Zealand scored only 31 runs in overs 14 to 19 with a solitary boundary while losing three wickets: Rashid had Mark Chapman (15 off 9) stumped, Daryl Mitchell (3 off 8) holed out to long off against Dawson, and Jacks cleaned up Phillips (39 off 28). That New Zealand reached 159 was thanks to Cole McConchie and Santner managing a four and six respectively in the 12-run final over off Rehan, who also dismissed the former after being hit for a boundary.

In response, England made a disastrous start as Jos Buttler's horror show continued, as he edged Lockie Ferguson behind to walk back for a two-ball duck. That was after Matt Henry had removed Phil Salt with a pearler in the opening over. Reduced to an ominous 2 for 2, England rebuilt the innings courtesy of a 48-run stand for the third wicket between skipper Brook (26 off 24) and Jacob Bethell (21 off 16). Brook took the attack to Henry, slapping him past cover point for a four before a jaw-dropping scoop for a six.

The partnership was broken against the run of play as Phillips tossed one up and had Brook hole out to long off. In the next over, Ravindra saw the back of Bethell courtesy of Phillips' diving brilliance at deep midwicket. With England in a leash and the required run rate gradually mounting, Tom Banton (33 off 24) and Sam Curran (24 off 22) tried to break the shackles, finding the occasional boundaries in their 42-run stand for the fifth wicket. However, Ravindra removed both of them in his consecutive overs to put England in a hole at 117 for 6 in the 17th over.

As has been the case right through the tournament, Jacks (unbeaten 32 off 18) took the onus on himself with Rehan (unbeaten 19 off just 7) helping him in no small cause in an 18-ball 44-run partnership, which was the highlight of the innings. Jacks was particularly severe on Phillips, belting him 6, 4, 4 in the 22-run 18th over that also saw Rehan hitting a six off the second ball. Rehan then reverse-swept Santner for a four in the penultimate over and sealed the fate of the game by ending the over with a six over long off. With five needed off the last over, Jacks hit the winning four to seal a four-wicket win with three balls to spare. 

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the match

Will Jacks

Jacks continued his exceptional run in the tournament, turning up for the umpteenth time with both bat and ball. Having registered figures of 2 for 23 from his quota with wickets of Finn Allen and Glenn Phillips, he played a clutch knock of 32 off 18 with four fours and a six to bag his fourth Player of the Match award.

What the captains said 

Winning Team Captain, Harry Brook (England)

"We've seen what Reggie [Rehan] do in the nets and he's gone out there and played beautifully there and taken the game away from them alongside Jacksy who's got his fourth man of the match, in this tournament, which is the most ever, he's just told me, so he's pretty happy with that performance.

"(On Rehan) Yeah, and there's conversations to be had, but we said from the start of the comp, when we said it to the group, we're going to select on conditions and we thought that today was the perfect opportunity to bring him in and he did an amazing job.

"(Did New Zealand test you?) Yeah, absolutely. And they're a very strong side that I think they've gone unbeaten before now. So, yeah, we played against them before Christmas. We knew how strong they were and they do everything so well. They do the little things really well with the running between the wickets and then they've got some extreme power with the batting and likewise with the bowling. They're a very skillful outfit.

"(On Buttler) Yeah, I think there's been a lot said about Joss. I said the other day that he's played 150 games for England and people probably need to take a little step back from that. He's probably the best white ball player to have ever played the game. He's in a little bit of a rut now, but I think that's an exciting thing for everybody in the world to know what he could produce in the next couple of games. He's obviously got a lot of fire in the belly and he wants to go out there and show everybody what he's made of. He's just 34, striking at 145 in 150 games and yeah, he's a phenomenal player and I have no doubts he'll go out and do well.

"(On Jacks) He's just a proper batter. There was one instinct that we played against the West Indies at the start of last summer and he came out and he just leant on his first ball for four through the covers or two or whatever. That's just a good sign. I think a lot of lower order batters come out and they block it or they try and hit a wild swing, but he's a proper batter. He's got first-class hundreds, he's played Test cricket and as we've seen tonight, he's got immense power as well.

"(On their choice of opponent for the semi - India or West Indies) We're not bothered. We're just going to go out there and whoever we're facing, they're going to be a tough opponent anyway. We've already played against West Indies in the warm-up game already, so a little bit of experience there. It's nice to go back to a ground that we've already played on as well. So yeah, both sides are very strong, very powerful teams and we've just got to go out there and try and do the little things well again.

"(Is your side peaking at the right time?) I think so, yeah. We still haven't played that perfect game. We haven't had... Yeah, the starts that we'd like to with bat and ball, and we've done well with the ball, but the bat's been a little bit off, but we've managed to get over the line in some very close games, and I think in World Cups, that holds you in really good stead going into the final stage of it."

Losing Team Captain, Mitchell Santner (New Zealand)

"That was a good match (smiles). A tight match! Yeah, I think the way England kind of paced their chase, and then obviously the way Willy J (Jacks) and Rehan (Ahmed) kind of put those finishing touches was good bit of batting.

"(Narrow defeat the next best option?) Yeah, I mean, obviously it would have been easier if we made our lives easy by winning. But again we played a pretty good game. There's obviously moments, both with the bat and the ball, that you can probably look back on and kind of turn the game for us a little bit. But again credit to England and the way they played. Yeah, I think we set up a good platform to target the last few overs and lost a few there. We only kind of scraped to 160. It could have easily been 170. But then obviously at the end you need 40 off the last three. And yeah I think the way they were able to take down the offie and obviously at the end was good batting.

"(Underwhelmed with the total they got?) Yeah, I think, the other innings (against Sri Lanka) we kind of lost wickets throughout and then were able to get to a score through in the the last four overs. But tonight we kind of set a platform, got to the second time-out in a pretty good spot. And then maybe took some tough options straight after the time out. But again, you need to kind of get runs and we were thinking at that stage 170, 175 would have been a really good score.

"(On Rehan Ahmed) Rehan showed his class with the bat in the last couple of years and obviously a very good player of spin. So he wasn't really fazed on that wicket. So yeah, and I guess his partnership with Jacksy, but also set up by Banton and Curran after losing a few at the start. (On the nervy wait) Yeah, we'll probably be watching the game tomorrow."