The magnitude of England’s achievement in reaching the final of the ICC World T20 is such that match-winner Jason Roy is still coming to terms with the win.

The 25-year-old blitzed a career-best score of 78 off just 44 balls to power his country towards their target of 154 against the previously unbeaten Black Caps, with Jos Buttler and Joe Root completing the job with 17 balls to spare.

Roy, who struck two sixes and 11 fours - four of them off the opening over of the run-chase - not only called the experience his best in cricket, he ranked it highly among the best moments of his life.

"I don't think the boys realise what they have achieved," he said.

"Just to be in a World Cup final at Eden Gardens in India, it's going to be a special experience. 

"It's the most mind-blowing experience of my life to date, that performance is up there with one of my greatest achievements, so I'm just super happy for the lads to get that experience on Sunday.

"I just looked at the runs that we needed and knocked them off,” the Surrey right-hander continued.

“Obviously if you let the occasion get to you then it can be to your detriment so I just went out there and gave it a crack.

"The whole team have got that kind of licence and that opportunity to go out there, do what they want and play freely with our skills

"I went out there and tried to get the team off to a good start and it came off for me tonight and we won quite well."

Roy was undoubtedly England’s hero of the hour and was rightly named Man of the Match. His job, however, would have been much more difficult was it not for a spectacular fightback with the ball.

New Zealand, with Colin Munro and Kane Williamson to the fore, had raced to 89-1 after ten overs only for England’s death bowling duo of Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes to peg the Kiwis firmly back with combined figures of 4-40 from eight overs.

Key roles were also played by Moeen Ali, who took 2-10 from two overs, and Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales whose sensible knock of 20 helped Roy post 82 runs for the first wicket.

Eoin Morgan was, therefore, keen to praise the hard work of his whole team who - following a losing start against the West Indies - have now reeled off four successive victories. 

"It's the kind of thing you dream of as a kid," said the England captain.

"Everybody in that changing room has worked tremendously hard and made all of the sacrifices in order to put us in this position.  

"Looking back into the West Indies game, we ran into an in-form Chris Gayle who's very difficult to stop.

"Since then we have taken the positives and game after game we've played the most confident we've played and hopefully we can take that into the final."

 

England are returning to the scene of their Ashes triumph in 2016 for Royal London One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Don't miss the opportunity to watch some of the best players in the world go toe-to-toe in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge and secure your seats now.