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4th over: Pakistan 32-0 (Rizwan 18, Babar 14) Babar is getting into the groove now. Coming up against Lockie Ferguson, he starts off with an off-drive style, then uses the extra pace to pass the empty traps. Slide is a career saving position! That’s 21 from eight balls, but Ferguson puts the cap on, conceding just two from the last four.
3rd over: Pakistan 24-0 (Rizwan 17, Babar 7) Boult, craftsman that he is, can be expensive and both batsmen focus on that. Babar plays his best shot for several weeks, a brilliant cover force for four. Rizwan, sensing the moment, piles on with a glance for four and a cut for four more. Fifteen out!
2nd wicket: Pakistan 9-0 (Rizwan 7, Babar 2) The Kiwis need a good start from their senior tight ends and they get that from Tim Southee, whose first over goes for just two singles. The algorithms are giving Pakistan a 65% chance of winning, which seems about right, although the chase has been unexpectedly tricky in this tournament.
1st: Pakistan 7-0 (Rizwan 6, Babar 1) It’s Trent Boult to get Pakistan’s innings going, and like New Zealand’s, he starts with a bang. Mohammad Rizwan cuts the first ball for four. Boult bounces, prompting a nick from Babar Azam, but it is dropped by Devon Conway, who has to change direction behind the stumps. Kane Williamson reacts with nothing more than a sly smile. Babar has been in such bad shape that the plan may be to keep him there.
Updated at 10.03 GMT
NZ end on 152 for 4, which should not scare Pakistan. Time for Babar to join the fun?
— Lawrence Booth (@the_topspin) November 9, 2022
NZ finished in 152
20th over: New Zealand 152-4 (Mitchell 53, Neesham 16) Naseem Shah plays the last over again, it’s all one and two. Only eight. Pakistan must now be firm favourites, especially with the pitch (low and slow) making them feel right at home. Shaheed Shah Afridi was superb and took 2-24 from his four overs. Kane Williamson was typically cool and calm, perhaps too much so. But let’s hear it from Daryl Mitchell, who has now appeared in two T20 World Cup semi-finals and proved unassailable: 72 not out in last year’s semi-final against England and 53 not out in a match this one against Pakistan. His temperament is teak.
New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham plays a shot. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 10.08 GMT
Fifty to Mitchell!
19th over: New Zealand 144-4 (Mitchell 50, Neesham 14) Haris Rauf returns for his over. NZ are getting something from every ball, even if it’s just a bye, but they aren’t threatening any kind of carnage just yet. Neesham manages to bowl a yorker for four, and Mitchell escapes a full toss to run two and reach a handsome fifty, off just 32 balls. He has been head and shoulders above the hitters who have gone before him.
Updated at 09.43 GMT
18th over: New Zealand 133-4 (Mitchell 46, Neesham 8) As Naseem Shah returns, Mitchell sees his slower ball and flicks it over extra cover for four. But, not for the first time this evening, the bowler recovers well and there is no second boundary in the over.
Updated at 09.43 GMT
17th over: New Zealand 123-4 (Mitchell 38, Neesham 6) Here’s Jimmy Neesham, a man who didn’t deserve to be on the losing side in the 2019 World Cup final. Can he get another one? Takes a ball to play with, then works Shaheen’s yorkers for two, two, two. NZ need another 20 from him, and the same from Mitchell. The news is, for the first time tonight, they have hitters on both ends.
Updated at 09.43 GMT
Wicket! Williamson b Shaheen Shah Afridi 46 (NZ 117-4)
The breakthrough! A big gun takes another as Williamson walks to the off side and Shaheen’s slower ball sinks into the leg stump.
16th over: New Zealand 116-3 (Williamson 46, Mitchell 38) Pakistan’s fielding, often a talking point, has been sharp tonight but is now faltering. They miss an out when it would have been much easier to get it, and then Babar himself is slow to run back from mid-on, so he fails to catch Mitchell off Haris Rauf. Ben may regret it.
Updated at 09.28 GMT
15th over: New Zealand 106-3 (Williamson 43, Mitchell 31) Back is Shaheen Shah Afridi, the leader of the pack, looking for the reverse swing. Starts off with two points to Williamson, who responds with a leg whipper for four. Here are their top four! Unbelievable but true. The PA blasts Crowded House, always take the time with you. If Neil Finn played cricket, he would play like Kane Williamson.
14th over: New Zealand 99-3 (Williamson 37, Mitchell 30) Shadab returns, the batsmen take four singles, one of the commentators says “You can sense something is about to happen”, and it does – Mitchell shimmies again and straight pulls for six. This brings up the fiftieth partnership, 51 from 35 balls. But even with those two sixes, the last two overs have only been for nine each, and it looks as if Pakistan are still in the driving seat.
13th over: New Zealand 90-3 (Williamson 36, Mitchell 22) After being there for 11-and-a-half overs, Kane Williamson hadn’t hit a single boundary (28 runs off 28 balls). Now he has it: Mohammad Wasim comes back and his first delivery is bounced for a six. Is it a stretch? is it a whip It’s certainly a great shot, though it does make you wonder why Williamson waited so long before attempting something similar.
12th over: New Zealand 81-3 (Williamson 28, Mitchell 21) Babar, finally having something to think about, gets back into rhythm and takes on Naseem Shah. NZ puts them back in one and two. The cameras give us some views of the SCG, those bright green roofs shining under a gray-blue sky. Of all the cricket grounds in the world, this is where I would choose to watch my last match.
11th over: New Zealand 73-3 (Williamson 24, Mitchell 18) Mitchell is dancing around his crease, wanting to go big. He cuts to Shadab, optimistically, and somehow squeezes the ball between the two men at backward point. A much needed four. And then another, as Mitchell waits until the last second before darting down the court and playing a direct ball. That’s 14 over. Reports of NZ’s disappearance may have been exaggerated.
Updated at 08.59 GMT
10th over: New Zealand 59-3 (Williamson 23, Mitchell 5) Williamson is working it, classy as ever, but not worried about Pakistan. Nawaz’s second is all single until Daryl Mitchell comes down the track and fashions a two. At the halfway mark, NZ are heading for 150 instead of 200, and Pakistan are heading for the final over.
9th over: New Zealand 52-3 (Williamson 20, Mitchell 1) Also, Pakistan keep taking wickets off the last ball of the over, meaning they can go through the next one as the new batsman bowls himself. That from Shadab is only worth three singles, and NZ are on a roll – three overs of slow stuff, 14 runs, one wicket.
8th over: New Zealand 49-3 (Williamson 18) So it’s spin at both ends, as it often is in Sydney, and both spinners have already taken a wicket. Pakistan at the top.
Wicket!! Phillips c&b Nawaz 6 (NZ 49-3)
The biggest! Phillips tries to whip Nawaz’s slow left arm to leg but gets a thick front and gives the bowler a Christmas present.
Updated at 08.55 GMT
7th over: New Zealand 44-2 (Williamson 14, Phillips 5) As soon as Shadab is over, he has to go for a leg-breaker. No rest for the gifted. He keeps it tight apart from a googly that is too short, allowing Phillips to cut late for four.
6th over: New Zealand 38-2 (Williamson 13) So the powerplay ends with Pakistan ahead on points but NZ avoiding the third wicket that so often spells doom. Shaun Pollock reckons the ball stays low and a chart backs him up: the average bounce has been about a ball diameter lower than in the other five games at the SCG, which may mean 180 is a good score.
Updated at 08.42 GMT
Wicket! Out Conway (Shadab) 21 (NZ 38-2)
Conway, seeing the need to go big, charges Rauf’s first ball and chips it for four, inside off. Shoot! But soon there’s a direct hit and Pakistan’s players start celebrating… They’re right! Dangerous Conway sacked by dead eye Shadab, proving Mel Jones’ point.
Updated at 08.36 GMT
5th over: New Zealand 30-1 (Conway 14, Williamson 12) Another change as Afridi makes way for Mohammad Wasim. Some sense of theater goes with Afridi, but Pakistan will still be happy enough. Five singles and a two: it’s as if the averages have already started.
4th over: New Zealand 23-1 (Conway 11, Williamson 8) Babar Azam’s first bowling change as Haris Rauf replaces Naseem Shah. Rauf has Conway’s number – he has dismissed him four times for just 29 runs. Williamson, perhaps aware of this, takes more of the strike, which makes for a quiet finish. The highlight is a straight push, rather a caress, for two – it would have been four if it wasn’t for a good half-stop down the middle. Mel Jones, on the edge, says he thinks the game could be decided by the field. She is a good commentator, confident and attractive.
Here we are @TimdeLisle, with two teams I’d love to win the thing (yeah, well, you know). This should be a cracker, it’s a shame the pitches used will make the pitch so crucial. But if anyone can put a team on top, it’s Pakistan.
— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) November 9, 2022
3rd: New Zealand 19-1 (Conway 10, Williamson 5) Afridi to Williamson: Looks like a great moment. Williamson, usually so composed, plays a loose drive but is in the gap at extra cover and takes three. A couple of points, then a couple of singles. Pakistan have bowled so well but it has still been a ball. NZ need to get through the next three overs with just one more wicket, to set the stage for Glenn Phillips.
2nd: New Zealand…