ABU DHABI: Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 72 and Jimmy Neesham’s blistering cameo led New Zealand to a dramatic five-wicket victory over England in the first semi-final on Wednesday.

Set a tricky victory target of 167, New Zealand were in trouble at 13-2 before Mitchell and Devon Conway (46) put them back on track in a rematch of the 2019 one-day World Cup final.

Neesham then turned the match on its head in the 23-run 17th over, hitting Chris Jordan for two sixes and a four.

Neesham fell for an 11-ball 27 but Mitchell, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, guided New Zealand home with one over to spare.

Mitchell smashed Chris Woakes for two sixes and a four before his 47-ball blitz triggered wild celebrations in the New Zealand dug out.

“We’ve played each other on a number of occasions, we knew it would be a great game of cricket,” captain Kane Williamson said after New Zealand reached their first T20 World Cup final.

“Really chuffed with the heart that was shown throughout that performance. We had wickets in hand which was really important.

“T20 cricket is a game of small margins. Jimmy came out and hit the ball hard, and changed the momentum of the game. Ultimately the deciding factor.”

New Zealand will face either Australia or Pakistan in Sunday’s final.

“It was outstanding from Mitchell at the top. His character stood out, an incredible knock,” added Williamson.

Mitchell, the son of former All Blacks rugby coach John, said he was delighted to reach the final.

“It was a bit of a whirlwind, but nice to get the job done and move onto the big dance,” he said.

England were crowned 50-overs world champions in 2019 via a now-scrapped boundary countback rule after a heart-stopping final against New Zea­land at Lord’s had ended in a tie.

The rematch two years on brought more drama and New Zealand had the last laugh this time.

Put into bat, England were 67-2 at the halfway stage of their innings and reached the 100-mark in 14 overs, kept in check by New Zealand’s tight bowling and sharp fielding.

England were forced into rejigging their opening combination having lost Jason Roy to a calf injury and Jonny Bairstow moved up to partner Jos Buttler in a move that did not really pay off.

Bairstow made 18 before driving Adam Milne to mid-off where Williamson demonstrated the sharp catching which has been the hallmark of his team.

Ish Sodhi struck a body blow when he dismissed Buttler, England’s leading scorer in the tournament, lbw for 29.

But Moeen All hit back with an unbeaten 37-ball 51 and put on a key partnership of 63 with Dawid Malan, who hit 41, for the third wicket to take England past the 150-mark.

The left-handed Malan, who was dropped on 10 by wicketkeeper Conway off Neesham, hit the first six of the innings off Southee in the 16th over but departed next ball caught behind.

But Moeen launched an attack as he hit Sodhi for a six and then smashed Milne for two hits over the fence.

Livingstone hit 17 off 10 balls before departing and Moeen completed his first fifty of the tournament with a boundary off Neesham.

England fast bowler Chris Woakes wrecked New Zealand’s top order, removing the dangerous Martin Guptill and the dependable Williamson in successive overs.

Woakes struck on the third ball to send Guptill trudging back to the pavilion for four.

The fast bowler then got skipper Willimson’s prized scalp for five after the batsman attempted a scoop shot to be caught at fine-leg.

Mitchell and Conway put on 82 runs for the third wicket but Livingstone struck with his leg spin to have Conway stumped.

New man Neesham took the bowling head on as he smashed Jordan for two sixes — one of them nearly caught at the boundary by Bairstow but his knee touched the rope.

He finally fell to Adil Rashid’s googly with skipper Eoin Morgan holding on to a catch at extra cover.

“Full credit to Kane and his team, they outplayed us today,” said Morgan. “We are a six-hitting side and we struggled to hit them. “We changed our game plan and posted around a par score. We felt right in the game at the halfway stage. Given the start we had, taking early wickets, it couldn’t have gone any better.”

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

J. Buttler lbw Sodhi 29 24 4 0 120.83

J. Bairstow c Williamson b Milne 13 17 2 0 76.47

D. Malan c Conway b Southee 41 30 4 1 136.66

Moeen Ali not out 51 37 3 2 137.83

L. Livingstone c Santner b Neesham 17 10 1 1 170.00

E. Morgan not out 4 2 0 0 200.00

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-9) 11

TOTAL (for four wkts, 20 overs) 166

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-37 (Bairstow), 2-53 (Buttler), 3-116 (Malan), 4-156 (Livingstone).

DID NOT BAT: S. Billings, C. Woakes, C. Jordan, Adil Rashid,

M. Wood

BOWLING: Southee 4-0-24-1, Boult 4-0-40-0 (1w), Milne 4-0-31-1 (1w), Sodhi 4-0-32-1 (2w), Santner 1-0-8-0, Neesham 2-0-18-1 (1w), Phillips 1-0-11-0.

NEW ZEALAND:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

M. Guptill c Moeen b Woakes 4 3 1 0 133.33

D. Mitchell not out 72 47 4 4 153.19

K. Williamson c Rashid b Woakes 5 11 0 0 45.45

D. Conway st Buttler b Livingstone 46 38 5 1 121.05

G. Phillips c Billings b Livingstone 2 4 0 0 50.00

J. Neesham c Morgan b Rashid 27 11 1 3 245.45

M. Santner not out 1 1 0 0 100.00

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, NB-1, W-4) 10

TOTAL (for five wkts, 19 overs) 167

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Guptill), 2-13 (Williamson), 3-95 (Conway), 4-107 (Phillips), 5-147 (Neesham).

DID NOT BAT: Milne, T. Southee, Ish Sodhi, T. Boult.

BOWLING: Woakes 4-1-36-2, Jordan 3-0-31-0 (3w), Rashid 4-0-39-1, Wood 4-0-34-0 (1nb), Livingstone 4-0-22-2 (1w).

RESULT: New Zealand won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: Handunnettige Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Marais Erasmus (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: Nitin Menon (India).

MATCH REFEREE: David Boon (Australia).

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2021