West Indies v New Zealand: Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup semi-final

Key events

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 – 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.

Sophie Devine of New Zealand and Hayley Matthews of West Indies lead their teams out. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty Images

Players from both sides exercise their vocal chords. Photographs: Satish Kumar/Reuters

The Manchester sun is now shining so brightly through my window that I’m 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 ….

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 – which was used in the first game of the tournament. Anjum Chopra takes a closer look – 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 – not too surprising as four out of six night games at Sharjah have been won by the side batting first.

This was Megan Maurice’s excellent considered take on Australia’s defeat – don’t get cock-a-hoop world, from the ashes of defeat will come an even scarier phoenix ….

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 – all in 2022 – resulted in three wins for New Zealand, a tie and a solitary West Indies victory. New Zealand’s main task will be to somehow contain Deandra Dottin, while Georgia Plimmer is New Zealand’s 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.