Johannesburg: New Zealand are guaranteed a place in the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup after a five-run win over England on Tuesday.

A 60-run partnership (42 balls) between Scott Styris and Craig McMillan helped New Zealand recover, after they were tottering at 31 for four. Skipper Daniel Vettori weighed in with late runs to help his side post a challenging score of 164.

In reply, England were restricted to 159 for eight. Darren Maddy and Vikram Solanki put on 64 for the first wicket. Maddy made 50 off 31 balls after pulling off a direct-hit run-out and taking two wickets but he became the first of three run-out victims as the England challenge subsided.

Needing 20 to win off the last two overs, England's hopes crashed when Owais Shah was run out after he and Luke Wright had put on 42 for the sixth wicket.

New batsman Dimitri Mascarenhas was caught at deep cover off the next ball from Shane Bond and Wright followed in the same way three balls later.