World Cup: Morgan hails Bairstow, Roy while Williamson rues lack of partnerships

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson lamented the lack of significant partnerships on a difficult track after their crushing defeat by England in their final group match of the Cricket World Cup on Wednesday.

Chasing 306 for a victory that would have assured them a place in the semi-finals, New Zealand lost both their openers cheaply and the wheels came off their innings when Williamson and Ross Taylor both were run out in successive overs.

Tom Latham made a fighting 57 but New Zealand were still shot out for 186 in 45 overs.

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"Going into that second half, we just needed a couple of big partnerships, certainly from the top order and it wasn't there," said Williamson, who felt the track got tough to bat on midway through the England innings.''

"By no means was it an easy surface to try and gain momentum but at the same time it was important as a batting unit we were able to try and take the game to a position where you might give yourself a chance to win it, but we weren't able to do that," said Williamson.

Electing to bat, England got a flying start from Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy to be 194-1 in 30 overs before the New Zealand bowlers halted their progress to restrict the hosts to 305-8.

England captain Eoin Morgan said his team had played some of their best cricket in their last two group games to make the semi-finals of the World Cup after 27 years.

Back-to-back defeats by Sri Lanka and Australia had jeopardised England's semi-final prospects but Morgan's men bounced back in style, ending India's unbeaten run in Birmingham and then crushing New Zealand to storm into the last four.

A common factor in both the victories was the flying start England got from openers Jonny Bairstow, who smashed his second successive century on Wednesday, and Jason Roy who made a roaring return from a hamstring injury in the match against India.

"We bat all the way down but those two are pushing the ceiling as to what guys can normally do," Morgan said.

More than the runs they raise, Morgan was pleased with how the openers complemented each other.

"Jonny got off to a flyer, Jason was quite slow to start and then caught up and Jonny slowed down.

"It was really brilliant to watch because normally you have two guys competing with each other the whole time trying to get ahead, trying to get the strike, trying to be more dominant, whereas as a partnership they are extremely dominant."

England will play either Australia or India in their semi-final match at Edgbaston, where England have not lost in 10 matches across formats.