Adelaide, Nov 4: New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson's contrasting innings in the match against England at Brisbane on November 1 and the game against Ireland at the Adelaide Oval on Friday became the talking point after the Black Caps virtually secured a place in the ICC T20 World Cup semifinal. If Williamson was circumspect and tentative against England scoring a run-a-ball 40 as New Zealand lost the crucial Super 12 game by 20 runs, which experts attributed to the captain's slow scoring, he paced his innings to perfection against Ireland smashing a 35-ball 61 embellished with five boundaries and three sixes at a strike rate of 174.28. New Zealand Become First Team To Qualify for T20 World Cup 2022 Semifinals

The result of Williamson's fireworks on Friday was a huge 35-run win against Ireland, the team that had upset England. With a lot of scrutiny surrounding his slow batting against England, Williamson said he tried to make some "good decisions" and "bat within a partnership" against Ireland, which led to a huge change in his scoring pattern. "I was trying to make good decisions and bat within a partnership. It was nice that throughout the innings we were able to build a lot of those partnerships. I thought the guys at the top of the order got us off to a really nice start on a surface that was difficult to be fluent on straight away, and the likes of Finn Allen who managed to get a big over in the powerplay and even Devon (Conway) to support him in that. ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Ireland’s Josh Little Took a Sensational Hat-Trick Against New Zealand

"I think sometimes you can look at some of the innings without context, but for us, that platform was a really important part to us getting a good total today," opined Williamson. He also added there is "no magic bullet", like a perfectly-timed boundary or a massive six that brings a cricketer's rhythm back. He said that finding one's rhythm has to do with building momentum with the partners in a systematic manner.

"I don't think there's any sort of magic bullet (to strike a rhythm), but it was nice to get a couple away and build a bit of momentum with the partners at the other end. Yeah, some of these you're sort of looking to make the contributions, and there's a lot of thought that goes into trying to position ourselves, whether it's my batting or someone else's in terms of the partnership. And you're always wanting to try and get that momentum and take those options and feel quite good about it. So it was nice to make a contribution today," he added.

"More importantly, it was nice we were able to build partnerships throughout as a team, and like I mentioned, the top both (Allen 32 and Conway 28) really valuable contributions for our side and then throughout with Glenn (Phillips) coming in and doing what he's been doing all tournament and Daryl (Mitchell) as well. So it was a nice total to have at the halfway stage. And I thought the bowlers, after being put under pressure early, did a really nice job to adjust and change their pace a little bit and make it nice and difficult for our position," opined Williamson.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 04, 2022 05:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).