12th over: India 35-4 (Pant 18, Pandya 4) Rishabh Pant is playing a different game to everybody else, going at not far off a run a ball and looking pretty untroubled doing so. He pulls one for four, and then pushes through cover. Santner dives to his left to stop it, and returns the ball so quickly that what seemed a straightforward single ends the batsman desperately diving to make his ground.
11th over: India 30-4 (Pant 13, Pandya 4) Boult keeps going, this the sixth over of his spell, and it ends with a leg-side wide, and then another that is heading in a similar direction until Pandya tickles it away for four. The win predictor now gives New Zealand a 65% chance of victory.
10th over: India 24-4 (Pant 12, Pandya 0) Another boundary, Pant hitting a lovely shot through the covers. There’s some encouragement here for India’s batsmen, but they’re not sticking around long enough to exploit it. The wicket falls from the last ball of the powerplay: prior to today India had lost four wickets in the opening 10 overs across the entire tournament; they’ve now equalled that total in less than an hour.
WICKET Karthik c Neesham b Henry 6 (India 24-4)
What a grab! Diving low to his left, with his arm fully extended, Jimmy Neesham plucks the ball out of the air about an inch from the ground, and then manages to pivot his hand so it protects the ball from the turf! Phenomenal!
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9th over: India 19-3 (Pant 7, Karthik 6) Runs for Karthik! He finally gets off the mark, from his 21st delivery, as he works one between third slip – that’s right, three slips – and point and gets four for it. And then a couple off the last for good measure.
8th over: India 13-3 (Pant 7, Karthik 0) Karthik has faced 16 balls so far, for his zero. None, though, in this over. India now need 5.4 an over, and it’s rising fast. “I think someone should go and check in on the Win Predictor algorithm – I don’t think it’s very well,” says Harry Lang. “I just saw it suggest, obviously in the throws of malfunction, that India were still 70% favourites whilst seemingly leaning over a precipice wearing banana skin slippers. Surely someone needs to switch it off and on again?”
7th over: India 10-3 (Pant 5, Karthik 0) Another maiden from Boult, who has one wicket for three runs from four overs. It ends with a gorgeous inswinging yorker, which doesn’t quite inswing enough.
6th over: India 10-3 (Pant 5, Karthik 0) Four! India’s first boundary comes as Pant works the ball past point, and with almost every fielder in the circle once it’s through, it’s gone. India still have a 70% chance of victory according to the win predictor, down from 98% at the start of the innings. “Well, we always wondered what’d happen if a team managed to get through India’s top 3 early,” says Guy Hornsby, “and here we are. It’s happened to everyone else, but not with a spot in the final at stake. Can Pant play that innings? Game absolutely, vitally, on.”
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5th over: India 6-3 (Pant 1, Karthik 0) Boult bowls a tempter across Karthik, similar to the delivery from Henry that did for Sharma, but this time the batsman leaves it. Then Pant raises his bat to a ball that comes back into him and, as he goes down on one knee, clips his chest on its way through. There’s a loud lbw appeal, but a shake of the head from the umpire, and no review. This is the first time in the entire history of ODI cricket that the top three batsmen have all been out for one run.
4th over: India 5-3 (Pant 0, Karthik 0) Another wicket maiden, as India falter in the face of Boult and Henry’s early-innings assault. “Everyone has talked about Boult in the build up to this morning, they seem to have forgotten Henry took 75 wickets at 15.48 in the CC last season, most of which were in very similar conditions to this,” notes Chris Parker.
WICKET! Rahul c Latham b Henry 1 (India 5-3)
Another edge, and an easy catch for Latham! Scenes!
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3rd over: India 5-2 (Rahul 1, Pant 0) Kohli goes after Boult’s first ball, but gets nothing on it as it whistles well wide of off stump. Two dots follow, and then another ball Kohli gets nothing on, and this one would have hit the stumps! Kohli’s average in three World Cup semi-finals is 3.66. Wicket maiden. What. A. Start.
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WICKET! Kohli lbw b Boult 1 (India 5-2)
The ball would have clipped the bails on its way through, and India’s captain has gone!
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REVIEW! Kohli’s given out LBW, but he doesn’t like it!
It looked a very good shout to me. This is massive …
2nd over: India 5-1 (Rahul 1, Kohli 1) Kohli edges his first ball, but it goes straight to ground. “Good morning and, weatherwise, we can say that with confidence,” writes John Starbuck. “Given that tomorrow’s forecasts are for thunderstorms, how ready are we for play on reserve-day Friday too? Got the cards ready?” The forecast for Birmingham tomorrow does look very poor indeed, and it looks at the moment like play on Friday is likely.
WICKET! Sharma c Latham b Henry (India 4-1)
Beauty! After three successive World Cup centuries, Rohit Sharma has gone for one, pushing at the ball and feathering an edge to the keeper!
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1st over: India 2-0 (Rahul 1, Sharma 1) The innings starts with a sharp single to mid-off, well run. But there’s just another single to follow, and the over ends with four dots.
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The players are back out. 240 to get. Trent Boult has the ball in his hand, and New Zealand need some magic from him this morning. Game on.
So India need 4.8 an over from 50 overs to claim a place in the final. I imagine they’d have taken that 24 hours ago.
50th over: New Zealand 239-8 (Santner 9, Boult 3) A single for Santner off the first, then a bouncer beats Boult. He then bashes the next to midwicket for a couple, an ugly shot but it’ll do, and follows that with a single. Santner has the strike, with two to face. The first goes to mid-on, where it’s well fielded but they run a couple, and he gets nothing but pad on the last. They run a leg bye, and India’s target is 240!
WICKET! Henry c Kohli b Kumar 1 (New Zealand 232-8)
49th over: New Zealand 232-8 (Santner 5, Boult 0) Mitch Santner gets the day’s first boundary, spearing through the covers for four. But then Henry tries to smack the last ball of the over over the long on boundary but gets nowhere near enough on it, and Kohli takes a straightforward catch!
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WICKET! Latham c Jadeja b Kumar 10 (New Zealand 225-7)
Jadeja’s at it again! He takes an excellent high catch at deep midwicket, and he’s essentially taken two wickets in two balls!
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48th over: New Zealand 225-5 (Latham 10) Bumrah starts his day with a full toss, which Taylor only converts into a single. With so many fielders in the deep, if they manage to get bat on ball a single is inevitable, and two likely. Eight off the over, despite that run-out off the last.
WICKET! Taylor is run out for 74! (New Zealand 225-6)
That’s an extraordinary bit of fielding from Jadeja! The batsmen come back for a second run and it seems straightforward, but Jadeja runs in from deep square leg and hits the stumps from side-on and a distance of 40 yards!
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47th over: New Zealand 217-5 (Taylor 70, Latham 6) A single for Taylor, and then a yorker that’s too good for Latham. The next goes down to long leg, and the batsmen manage to run a fairly comfortable two thanks to some half-hearted fielding. Another one and a two makes six off the first five balls of the day, with Taylor on strike for the start of over 48.
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“If New Zealand score 30 runs from their remaining overs, it’s a bad sign for them I think, because it means the pitch is good for batting and India are also likely get the required runs from their 50 overs,” writes Mark van Raaij. “If, on the contrary, NZ struggle to add to their total, they might be able to also put India in trouble.” So let me get this straight: the worse New Zealand do, the better New Zealand are doing?
The players are out now, so either way, we’re about to find out.
If you get tired of the glitz and glamour of World Cup cricket, here’s Tanya Aldred with the County blog:
“Trying to think of a less appealing challenge in world cricket than coming in cold this morning to try and hit sixes off Bhuvi and Bumrah yorkers,” says Lawrence White. “There can’t be much worse?” It’s a nasty assignment, to be sure, and there won’t be many worse. Perhaps defending 230 against Sharma and Kohli?
Apparently Bhuvi Kumar, who will start the day by bowling the final five deliveries of his ninth over, has been practising yorkers this morning.
Even further pre-play reading: here’s Andy Bull on the one great advantage Australia have over their World Cup rivals:
“A score of 240+ and an early wicket will mean New Zealand can book tickets to London,” suggests Krish. “Else the tag of eternal semi finalists can come to haunt them.” I think they’re a bit below par, and the fact that 12 of their last 23 balls will be bowled by Bumrah isn’t encouraging, but as you say if they can score another 30 runs and take a couple of early wickets they’re back in the game.
Further pre-play reading: ICC says outbreak of unusually slow pitches at this World Cup is just coincidence and nothing to do with them:
Important point of information: play will resume at 10.30am BST. There is, I’m told, a 20% chance of rain for an hour or so at lunchtime, but that aside we’re all good.
Hello world!
We’re back! There’s unfinished business to be done in Manchester after yesterday’s rain, which mercifully continued just long enough to prevent a potentially ludicrous 20-over Indian run chase being awkwardly squeezed into the evening.
That would certainly have improved New Zealand’s chances of prevailing; this outcome does the opposite. They have to click immediately and seamlessly into top gear this morning as they attempt to turn 211-5 into a defendable total in the space of only 23 balls. In particular Ross Taylor, who had finally started to score fairly freely after a slow start when the rain fell, has to go big from the off.
The forecast is (fairly) good and a winner has to be found. Welcome, and here’s Vic Marks on yesterday’s action.