Ir was striking to see New Zealand all-rounder James Neesham sit with a poker face after the Kiwis witnessed a phenomenal run chase against England in their T20 World Cup semi-final. Having been through quite a few heartbreaking defeats in the past, including the 2019 World Cup final, Neesham held back his celebrations.

While Kane Williamson was smiling while sitting at the dug-out, James Neesham was sitting without a lot of expressions after having hit a game-changing knock of 27 off 11 deliveries. New Zealand chased down 167 in just 19 over and knocked out pre-tournament favorites England. 

For someone who was involved in a nerve-wracking Super Over finish in the 2019 ODI World Cup final where England was decided as winners on the boundary count rule, Neesham said he and his teammates have their eyes firmly set on the final against Australia on Sunday. Both New Zealand and Australia will battle to win their first-ever T20 World Cup title. 

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Describing the same, as per the quotes in New Zealand Cricket, James Neesham said, “It’s a situation worthy of celebrating I guess – winning a semi-final – but you don’t come halfway around the world just to win a semi-final. We’ve got our sights pretty firmly set on the game in a few days’ time… I’m personally, and we as a team, are not getting ahead of ourselves. One game to go and I’m sure there will be a bigger outpouring of emotion if we manage to get across the line.”

New Zealand is one of the most consistent teams in world cricket and especially at ICC events in the last 4 years or so. Neesham said their robust planning is the reason behind their consistency.

James Neesham Elaborated, “Look, I think we’re experienced at it. We’ve done so well and so consistently in tournaments across five or six years. We know how to I suppose hit the reset button and put a win or a loss behind us pretty quickly. We’ve got pretty robust strategies around how to prepare for games with scouting, planning, and all that kind of stuff.”

Talking about his match-winning partnership with opener Daryl Mitchell, who stayed unbeaten till the end, James Neehsam said his plan was to try for a six every ball.

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Elaborating the same, James Neesham said, “I just said to Daz (Daryl Mitchell), I hit CJ (Chris Jordan) for a six off the second ball and Daz sort of came down and said: ‘what do you think?’ I just said I’m going to try and hit every ball for six. It doesn’t always come out of the middle but chunked a couple and got enough to get over the rope. Yeah, ended up doing reasonably comfortably in the end.”