England – New Zealand: T20 World Cup semi-finals – live! | sports

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1.42 PM GMT 13:42

The first email of the day comes, nicely, from Kiwi in Sweden. Ben Bernards says: “Speaking from a New Zealand perspective, I fully appreciate that only a miserable crash should entail the use of all eleven batsmen, any time a Southee has two or more players lower than him makes me feel uncomfortable. Raining Stats on Test Debut, it’s No. 11!” Ha. If that’s your biggest concern, wouldn’t you be a secret optimist?

Updated at 1.45pm GMT

1.38pm GMT13:38

England team: Yes, it’s Billings for Roy

England 1 Johnny Bristow, 2 Gus Butler (wkt), 3 David Malan, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Liam Livingston, 6 Owen Morgan (capt), 7 Sam Billings, 8 Chris Fox, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adel Rashid, 11 Mark Wood .

So Bairstow opened, England bats deep, their field play got better, but bowling can be a light touch – and they have to deal with the dew. Morgan is honest enough to tell Nasir Hussain that he would have played first too.

Updated at 1.43pm GMT

1.35pm GMT13:35

Team New Zealand: No change

New Zealand 1 Martin Jupitel, 2 Daryl Mitchell, 3 Ken Williamson (captain), 4 Devon Conway (wkt), 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Jimmy Nissam, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Adam Milne, 9 Tim Southey, 10 Is Soddy, 11 Trent Bolt .

1.32pm GMT13:32

Billings in (most likely)

Simon Burnton is on the ground and keeps a close eye on the England team before the match. “Sam Billings gets slapped,” he says. “Looks like he got approval to replace Jason Roy.” This, in turn, probably means Bairstow is moving up to open with Buttler.

1.01 PM GMT 13:01

Preamble

Afternoon everyone, and welcome to the most mouth-watering match yet in the World Cup. It has to be said that England’s match against New Zealand was not always a juice-flowing competition. For decades it was one-sided boring, then narrow but sparse. You could have had long odds about meeting these two nations in the World Cup Final, not to mention inventing the greatest upstart in cricket history. And now they are in Abu Dhabi, the 50-plus World Cup holders against the world champions in Test cricket.

If there is any justice, New Zealand will win by the largest margin. But the sports gods reserve the right to be fickle at all times, and on paper this seems pretty close to call in. Ken Williamson has a stronger touchdown attack, led by Adam Milne, the substitute who became a superstar. Eoin Morgan has an advantage in spinning, thanks to the trusted Adel Rashid and back Moin Ali. England have more injuries, and Jason Roy may be sorely missed, but they also have more firepower. Even when a senior official drops out, there are still three people left – Joss Butler, Johnny Birstow, and William Livingston. Then there is a particular, who is more than an expert.

England has Morgan, an absolutely great leader, even if he borrowed half of his ideas from the nation he faces today. New Zealand has Williamson, a man so cool and calm that he can ask his team to look ‘fondly’ at the 2019 World Cup Final. Either side will reach a worthy final this time around, and New Zealand has more momentum, having shaken off their bad day early on.

It must be a treat. Play starts at 2pm UK time – join me around 1.35 for news of the draw and the teams.

Updated at 1.48pm GMT

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