Daryl Mitchell and Jimmy Neesham have smashed New Zealand into the Twenty20 World Cup final with a violent late-over batting display in a semi-final win over England at Abu Dhabi.
Chasing 167 for victory, New Zealand needed 60 from the final five overs, when Neesham joined the cool-headed Mitchell at the crease.
The pair added 40 in 17 balls, with Neesham (27) launching three sixes and a four from 11 balls to get the Blackcaps chase on track, while Mitchell calmly waited for his moment.
That moment came in the 19th over, bowled by Chris Woakes, when the righthander smashed two sixes from the first two balls to effectively seal victory for his side.
A boundary from the final ball of the over from Mitchell (72 from 48 balls) secured a win that looked unlikely for most of the chase.
Winning the toss and bowling first, the Blackcaps were on the backfoot early, as England's opening pair of Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow added 37 runs in the first five overs.
Adam Milne ended that momentum, dismissing Bairstow with his first delivery, as a Kane Williamson catch sent the English opener on his way for 13.
Bairstow's exit saw Dawid Malan's arrival at the crease, where the lefthander was given an early life with his score on 10, as Devon Conway shelled a regulation catch behind the stumps.
After moving past Pakistan captain Babar Azam as the tournament's leading runscorer so far, Buttler fell leg before wicket to Ish Sodhi, out trying to reverse sweep the leg spinner, as his exit saw Moeen Ali join Malan.
Making the most of his early life, Malan unleashed a series of cover drives - both lofted and along the ground - as he and Moeen combined to hurt the Blackcaps through the middle overs.
Promoted up the order to No.4 in the batting order, Moeen added 63 from 43 balls in partnership with Malan (41), on his way to 51 not out, the standout score of England's 166/4.
Moeen hit three fours and two sixes, as England scored 99 runs in the final 10 overs of their innings.
Jimmy Neesham finished as the pick of the Blackcaps bowlers, taking 1/18, with Tim Southee returning figures of 1/24.
In response, the Blackcaps start was rocked, when Martin Guptill fell to the third ball of the innings, spooning Chris Woakes to Moeen at mid-on at 4/1.
Williamson came and went for five, as pressure from Woakes provoked the Kiwi captain into scooping the ball straight to Adil Rashid, leaving the Blackcaps in trouble at 13/2.
Williamson's wicket saw Devon Conway join Mitchell at the crease, tasked with rebuilding the NZ innings and despite the immense task at hand, rebuild they did.
Starting slowly, Mitchell and Conway consolidated the innings, keeping the scoreboard ticking over, rather than looking for boundaries.
Despite an unflattering 58/2 score at halfway, Mitchell and Conway had kept their wickets intact, and set themselves the platform to accelerate the scoring rate.
Mitchell hit the first ball of the 11th over dead straight for four, before Conway sent Mark Wood over point for six off the fourth ball after drinks to restart the Kiwi chase.
From 46 balls, Mitchell and Conway's partnership passed 50, but the pair's work wasn't finished.
Mitchell cleared the ropes for his first six, smashing Adil Rashid towards long-off and watching Chris Jordan carry the ball over the rope.
But that momentum stalled again, when Conway well for 46, out stumped, after running past a Livingstone legbreak. When Glenn Phillips perished not long after for two, Mitchell and Neesham were tasked with getting the Blackcaps into a winning position... and they duly obliged.
New Zealand now await the winner of Friday morning's second semi-final between unbeaten Pakistan and Australia at Dubai - the final is on Monday morning at the same venue.
Join us at 3am Monday for live updates of the T20 World Cup between the Blackcaps and ?????
