ENG VS NZ - 6th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy, 2017

That's it for today then. On behalf of Akshay Maanay, Vineet Anantharaman, Ramakrishnan, Pradeep, and our scorer Praveen, this is Sagar Chawla signing off. Cheers!

England, arguably, weren't at their best today. But they have still muscled an 87-run win, cranking it up with the ball at a critical time. With this, they become the first team to make it into the semis. New Zealand, who were looking strong to beat Australia before being denied by the weather, now have to beat Bangladesh and then hope that England beats Australia. So little margin of error due to the format of this tournament. As Williamson said: it is what it is.

Here's a statistical wind up of the day, courtesy Deepu Narayanan. There are plenty.

* England has posted 300-plus now in 11 out of their last 13 ODIs while batting first. They now have 23 300+ scores post WC 2015, ten ahead of the next placed SA.

* The last four stands between Kane Williamson & Ross Taylor in England reads 21, 206, 101, 99 and 95.

* Eight wickets by Plunkett is the joint most for a player after first two CT matches along with Douglas Hondo, Wayne Parnell & Mitchell McClenaghan.

* The 87-run margin is the highest for ENG in CT against a side other than ZIM. It is also the second-highest losing margin for NZ in CT after 164-run defeat against AUS in Colombo in 2002.

Williamson: The nature of the English batting is that they bat deep. In that respect, it wasn't a bad effort with the ball. In all areas England outplayed us today. It was tough out there. Credit to the way they went about their business, especially with the ball. They deserved everything they got today. We were trying to get a partnership, get some momentum. It was a tough surface to start on. When we lost wickets, we were required to come out and play some big shots in the middle and lower order. It was a tough job for them. The wind was a big factor. That's the game isn't it (getting out to a snorter). It was a little bit two paced, you had to watch the ball hard, don't think I watched the ball hard enough. It is what it is. I suppose at this point of time, England have played the best cricket and they are right on top of the table which is fair. We have to front up in our last game and try and get the result that we want and hope that these guys help us out a little bit.

Morgan: We weren't that pleased at the halfway stage. We felt we were 15-20 runs below par. We put ourselves in a really good position to get 340, but we kept losing wickets. But when you post over 300, you're always in with a shout. Stokes had a good partnership with Joe, and then Moeen Ali was unlucky to get out. We gave ourselves every chance to post a big score but it didn't come off. Our players said that it was two paced, and taking that into consideration and with the short boundaries straight, we thought there was no value in bowling full. So there was a lot of cross-seamers and lot of cutters. They really set the tone, coming out and not being too greedy for swing. It sounds pretty good going into the semis. We are obviously not satisfied with just the semis. This group has a lot of potential. A lot of hard work to go before we perform to our potential. It's actually one of our strengths (batting deep). Goes a long way when you've got guys like Adil Rashid and Plunkett coming to bat at nine and ten. It does strengthen our team.

Ball: I was just trying to put it in the right area. Little bit of rain juiced the wicket up. Everybody had their fair share of difficulty with the wind. That's One-Day cricket; you have to be prepared to go around the park. You have to cherish these days, when you come away with good figures. It (the surface) played pretty well and there was a bit of uneven bounce. The bowlers stuck it in the right area. We tried to hit the deck hard and make it difficult for them to hit the ball. It is a great feeling (to reach the semifinal). Obviously got one more game against the Aussies, would be nice to beat them and top the group stage.

18:45 Local Time, 17:45 GMT, 23:15 IST: New Zealand have derailed quite dramatically, from being right in the thick of the chase at 158/2. Williamson and Taylor were going really well, recovering nicely from Ronchi's first ball duck and Guptill's early loss. But then the English seamers really started to make things happen off the pitch. The ball had been doing a bit all day actually, and they really stepped it up when it mattered. Plunkett might have finished with four, but it was the splendid work done by Wood and Ball which turned things around heavily in England's favour. It took an absolute snorter from Wood to send Williamson packing, which was the turning point as the New Zealand captain was looking ominous. And then, in a period of five-six overs, England completely dried things up and created enough pressure to make Taylor falter. New Zealand were never in the chase from there, as Rashid crafted a hold over them as well. Here's what the Man of the Match, Jake Ball, has to say..

Plunkett to Southee, out Caught by Roy!! That should be a wrap. Yes. Southee mows the ball in the air, it doesn't have the distance on it and Roy takes an easy catch at deep mid-wicket. Southee c Roy b Plunkett 2(6)

Plunkett to Southee, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Plunkett to Southee, no run, pitched up, Southee drives to mid-off. Sweet timing, but straight to the fielder

Trent Boult, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Plunkett to Milne, out Caught by Adil Rashid!! Another one for Plunkett. Getting a few cheap wickets here. Back of a length, Milne isn't anywhere close to the ball as he gallops down and slogs. It's a miscue from high on the bat and pops up in the air. Good catch from Rashid, moving quickly to his left from mid-on and diving across for the grab. Milne c Adil Rashid b Plunkett 10(11) [4s-1]

Plunkett to Milne, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Mark Wood to Milne, 1 run, gets hold of the pull nicely but smashes it straight to deep square leg

Mark Wood to Southee, 1 run, back of a length outside off, dabbed to third man

Mark Wood to Southee, no run, short ball, holds in the pitch and doesn't get to Southee as quick as he expects. Doesn't bounce much either. He ends up pulling over the ball

Mark Wood to Milne, 1 run, back of a length on the stumps, tucks it through mid-wicket

Mark Wood to Southee, 1 run, very full on the stumps Southee flicks it away backward of square

Mark Wood to Southee, leg byes, FOUR, walks a long way across the stumps, gets outside the line of the ball and helps it fine. That has deflected off the thigh rather. Leg byes

Mark Wood [8.0-0-28-1] is back into the attack