Key events
West Indies innings
1st over: West Indies 4-0 (Matthews 1, Joseph 3) An immaculate looking Mair with the first over. And I think sheâll see that as a success, restricting West Indies to dibs and dabs.
Theyâre out already and the kettle hasnât boiled!
“On this wicket, anything is defendable”
Suzie Bates: The wicket was holding a little bit so we did not get our timing right. That innings (by Gaze) to get us over the 120-mark is crucial and anything can happen with this West Indies side. We have to keep taking wickets. Good for us that there is enough in the wicket to bowl the West Indies out.
[Asked about Henryâs injury[ It is never nice, sometimes when that happens, cricket takes a back seat. Best wishes to her.
[Confident?]You have got to be. On this wicket, anything is defendable and in semi-final cricket, anything can happen.
New Zealand 128-9, West Indies need 129 to win
20th over: New Zealand 128-9 ( Gaze 20, Jonus 0) Alleyne with the final over. Gaze scoops her first ball down to the rope. A great bit of fielding off the third ball as Tahuhu charges at the ball but it is picked up by the bowler. In between the wickets, New Zealand manage six from the over. Very much not the total they will have been aiming for a couple of hours ago. But on the radio, Katherine Sciver Brunt says that they will think it is enough.
WICKET! Carson run out (Alleyne) ) (New Zealand 127-9)
Carson has a go but can only hit the ball back to Alleyne, who turns around and clops the bails off. Gaze, though, has made it down the other end.
WICKET! Tahuhu c Joseph b Alleyne 6 (New Zealand 127-8_
After Tahuhu goes high, Joseph nearly performs the drop of the tournament at extra cover, but rescues herself with a one-handed catch off the rebound â and holds on as she lands on the hard Sharjah ground with a thump.
19th over: New Zealand 122-7 ( Gaze 14, Tahuhu 6) Matthews throws her arms about in frustration as New Zealand take an overthrow off a fumble from Dottin at the bowlerâs end. Nice work by these two, who pick nine from the penultimate over, after nine from the 18th as well.
18th over: New Zealand 113-7 ( Gaze 9, Tahuhu 2) Excellent farming by Gaze who picks up a boundary shifting one past fine leg â nine from the over.
17th over: New Zealand 104-7 ( Gaze 2, Tahuhu 0) Can New Zealand squeeze up to 120? Dottin (4-13) still has an over left.
WICKET Mair lbw Dottin 2 (New Zealand 104-7)
Dottin fancies it⦠the umpire says no⦠they go upstairs. When itâs your day, itâs your day: the review shows Mair done by a slower ball.
WICKET! Green c Campbelle b Dottin 3 (New Zealand 102-6)
Oh dear, springs now joining wheels as the whole jalopy hits the rocks. A third wicket for Dottin and a neat catch behind the stumps.
16th over: New Zealand 102-5 (Green 3, Gaze 2) This is slipping away from New Zealand now â no Devine to guide them home.
WICKET! Devine c Ramharack b Fletcher 12 (New Zealand 98-5)
At this stage of the innings Devine canât resist a fat wide one that says hit me â but gets no reward as the ball loops to short third.
15th over: New Zealand 98-4 (Devine 12,Green 1) A catalogue of incident and injury at Sharjah today as Halliday gets biffed on the boot by a throw as she sprints to complete a second run. They pause, and as for Kerr before her, the break appears to have added to her downfall â fabulous ball as it was from Dottin.
WICKET! Halliday b Dottin 18 (New Zealand 96-4)
A peach-perfect yorker from Dottin slips under Hallidayâs stump and tips it hat at off stump.
14th over: New Zealand 93-3 (Devine 10, Halliday 16) Now New Zealand are starting to motor: 12 off the 12th over is followed by 12 off the 13thâ¦and the first extra of the innings comes with a no-ball. Devines helps herself to her first boundary courtesy of a half volley from Alleyne.
Hello Ruth Purdue!
âIs Bosch counted as nominative determinism? I saw she was being celebrated after yesterdayâs performance in a package in this game.â
Very good! Iâm trying to think of some other ones, but my Friday brain is not playing ball. Does the hive mind have any more up their sleeve?
13th over: New Zealand 81-3 (Devine 4, Halliday 7) Inky black skies, big full moon. Halliday makes her mark immediately with two fours from Fletcherâs over, one over midwicket, one to deep square leg where Taylor, dispatched to the rope despite her knee injury, makes a absolute dogs breakfast/dinner of stopping the ball.
WICKET! Plimmer c Campbelle b Fletcher 33 (New Zealand 69-3)
And even more so now! Plimmer, who had just started to find her mojo, is stumped by the width of the M25 as she goes on the charge and misses. Matthews jigs for joy.
12th over: New Zealand 69-2 (Plimmer 33, Devine 3) West Indies have the upper hand here.
WICKET! Kerr c Ramharack b Dottin 7 (New Zealand 65-2)
Kerr canât make the most of her lifeline the previous ball and slots the next straight to mid off where Ramharack does the business.
Injury for Henry
11.1 overs: New Zealand 65-1 (Plimmer 32, Kerr 7 ) Oooof â Henry is in some trouble on the ground after misjudging a catch in the deep. I think she lost sight of the ball in the lights and it smacks her on the full on the forehead. She manages to walk off with some help but I suspect that might be it for her for the game. She gets a round of applause as she limps away.
11th over: New Zealand 63-1 (Plimmer 32, Kerr 5 ) Campbell is persuaded by Ranharack that the lbw shout that the umpire turned down against Kerr was actually very out. They review -and to no-oneâs great surprise, it was pitching outside the line. Then SIX! As Plimmer gets one down the ground at last, and it flies over the head of a leaping Henry. Had Henry stayed put, heels a breath from the rope, the ball would have dropped nicely into her hands.
10th over: New Zealand 54-1 (Plimmer 25, Kerr 3 ) Alleyneâs beguiling first over leaks just four runs. Drinks and a light show to help New Zealand on their way â youâd think theyâd need to get a hurry on in the second half of the innings.
9th over: New Zealand 50-1 (Plimmer 23, Kerr 1 ) Just four boundaries in the first nine overs for New Zealand, scoreboard and pressure could start to bring its own problems in the second half of the game. But Amelia Kerr â¦
WICKET! Bates b Ramharack 22 (New Zealand 48-1)
A reverse sweep proves Batesâ downfall â she throws her bat in the air in disappointment after watching the ball ricochet slowly into the stumps.
8th over: New Zealand 48-0 (Bates 26; Plimmer 22) Seven from Fletcherâs first over â New Zealand successfully farming for runs.
7th over: New Zealand 41-0 (Bates 19; Plimmer 22) Nine from the over when a boundary from the final ball, a swipe by Plimmer which is misjudged by James near the rope, is added to a clutch of twos. Tash Farrant says how well West Indies are bowling to Plimmer, preventing her from accessing her favourite spot â straight down the ground.
6th over: New Zealand 32-0 (Bates 19; Plimmer 13) The end of the power play â with the spoils shared. Plimmer, who has struggled a little for touch, shimmies down to Taylor and sends her over midwicket for four.
5th over: New Zealand 23-0 (Bates 15; Plimmer 8) BAtes is now visibly frustrated: steps across her stumps and flays at the first ball, shovels at the second, swings and misses at the third. Makes mores significant contact with the fourth â up â but still only picks up two. Plimmer gets one delivery, and is beaten by a cracker from Henry.
4th over: New Zealand 16-0 (Bates 8 ; Plimmer 8) A full toss from James plinked over square leg for four by Bates, as the sun sets in fiery fashion over Sharjah.
3rd over: New Zealand 10-0 (Bates ; Plimmer 7) New Zealand are lucky that Staphanie Taylor is fielding at mid-0ff, perhaps someone less constricted by injury would have thrown the stumps down at the bowlerâs end, as Bates and Plimmer gamble on an unwise single.
2nd over: New Zealand 7-0 (Bates 2; Plimmer 5) James takes the new ball the other end, keeping New Zealand caged with her loopy slow left arm.
1st over: New Zealand 5-0 (Bates 1; Plimmer 4). Chinelle Henry with the first over, tall and strong. New Zealand have only lost one wicket in the power play all tournament â and so it continues in the first over, with one boundary, an off driven four by Plimmer.
West Indies huddle, high five, and take the field. Plimmer and Bates swing their bats and march out after them.
Anthem time: New Zealand, arms round each other, are relatively restrained with their singing. West Indies, arms also wrapped around each other, are slightly more animated alongside Rally round the West Indies.
The Manchester sun is now shining so brightly through my window that Iâm going to have to draw the curtains.
This game is a repeat of the 2016 semi-final, when West Indies squeezed past New Zealand by six runs, and went on to win the trophy. Sophie Devine has unfinished business to attend to, in what may well be her last/second last New Zealand game as captain.
Just something else to throw into this extraordinary cricket week: today in Bangalore, Tim Southee (65) was the first No. 9 to outscore the opposition (46) in the first innings of any Test â¦.
West Indies XI
Stafanie Taylor returns, replacing Nation.
West Indies: Hayley Matthews (capt), Qiana Joseph, Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Ashmini Munisar, Aaliyah Alleyne, Afy Fletcher, Karishma Ramharack
New Zealand XI
New Zealand are unchanged.
New Zealand: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (capt), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Lea Tahuhu, Rosemary Mair, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas.
They will be playing, Lydia Greenway tells us , on pitch five â which was used in the first game of the tournament. Anjum Chopra takes a closer look â and reports that it is a nice green colour and has been well rested.
New Zealand win the toss and will bat!
Sophie Devine has plumped to bat first because she wants the runs in the bag â not too surprising as four out of six night games at Sharjah have been won by the side batting first.
This was Megan Mauriceâs excellent considered take on Australiaâs defeat â donât get cock-a-hoop world, from the ashes of defeat will come an even scarier phoenix â¦.
Preamble
Hello! In a cricketing week that has defied convention, six-times winners Australia being knocked out of the T20 World Cup is the biggest forearm pincher of them all. But shove that mental confusion behind the sofa cushion for now while we sit back to watch the battle to join surprise finalists South Africa in Dubai on Sunday (3pm BST).
West Indies, who earned their slot by knocking out England earlier this week, and New Zealand, on a roll, are our teams. The last five matches between the two sides â all in 2022 â resulted in three wins for New Zealand, a tie and a solitary West Indies victory. New Zealandâs main task will be to somehow contain Deandra Dottin, while Georgia Plimmer is New Zealandâs top scorer.
Should New Zealand win, we are guaranteed a new T20 World Cup Champion on Sunday. Play starts at 3pm BST, toss at 2.3o.