T20 World Championship semi-finals: Daryl Mitchell takes on England as New Zealand and reaches the Maiden final

T20 World Cup Semifinals, ENG vs NZ: New Zealand defeated England to reach their first final, facing either Australia or Pakistan on Sunday.

Opener Daryl Mitchell cracked an unbeaten 72 and led New Zealand to its first ever Twenty20 World Cup final with an exciting five-wicket win over England on Wednesday. Chasing 166 to victory, New Zealand got into trouble 13-2 and 107-4 when Jimmy Neesham turned the semifinals upside down with an 11-ball-27 to cross the finish line in Abu Dhabi with a surplus. At 20, with his last 12 balls, Mitchell beat Chris Woakes for two sixs and a four before his 47-ball lightning bolt triggered wild cheers in the New Zealand dugout canoe.

New Zealand will face either Australia or Pakistan in the final on Sunday. They suffered early blows after Woakes hit the third ball to drag Martin Guptill back into the pavilion for four. The fast bowler then got the coveted scalp from skipper Kane Williamson for five after the batsman attempted a scoop shot to get caught at the fine leg.

Mitchell and Devon Conway made 82 runs for the third wicket, but Liam Livingstone struck his leg spin to trip Conway for 46. New man Neesham picked up the bowling head as he smashed Chris Jordan for two sixes - one of whom was almost caught by Bairstow on the border, but his knee hit the rope - and a four to get 23 runs off the over. He eventually fell victim to Adil Rashid's Googly while Eoin Morgan was holding a catch in additional cover.

Previously, Moeen Ali had beaten an unbeaten 51 to take England to 166-4 after being invited when Kiwi skipper Williamson won a major throw. England lost their opening games including Jos Buttler for 29, lbw ahead of Ish Sodhi.

In-Form-Moeen

But Moeen hit back with his 37-ball knock and created a key partnership of 63 with Dawid Malan, who hit 41, for the third wicket. Pace bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult held a tight leash for the first three overs before Buttler broke two consecutive boundaries. Formal Buttler attempted to rebuild, but an attempt to reverse sweep-leg spinner sodhi trapped him for 29 out of 24 deliveries.

The inaugural player, who overtook Pakistan's Babar Azam as the tournament's lead batsman on 269 runs, checked the call but replays indicated the ball might have hit his stump. Left-handed Malan, dropped on 10 by wicketkeeper Conway in front of Neesham, hit the first six of Southee's innings in the 16th but was the next ball behind.

But Moeen launched an attack when he hit Sodhi with a six and then hit Milne over the fence with two hits. Livingstone hit 17 of 10 balls before departure and Moeen finished his first fifty of the tournament with a limit ahead of Neesham.