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sports Diabierna 12 november 2021

New Zealand beats England to reach Twenty20 World Cup final

(AP) — Daryl Mitch- for 23 runs. Then he and and Pakistan.
ell and James Neesham Mitchell each hit legspinner
powered New Zealand Adil Rashid for a six in the On Wednesday, Mitchell
to a stunning five-wicket following over. struggled to play his shots
victory with an over to early on a sluggish wicket,
spare against England on England got back into con- but he hung in with Devon
Wednesday, helping the tention when captain Eoin Conway (46) in a crucial 82-
Black Caps advance to Morgan caught Neesham run stand before anchoring
their first Twenty20 Crick- off Rasheed, but Mitchell the chase in style with Nee-
et World Cup final. thumped Chris Woakes (2- sham.
36) for two sixes before rais-
Needing 57 off the last four ing the victory with a flicked “A bit of a whirlwind, nice to
overs, Neesham clobbered 26 four to fine leg. get the job done and move on
off just 10 balls before Mitch- to the big dance,” Neesham
ell anchored New Zealand to For the New Zealanders, it said, acknowledging his fa-
167-5 with an unbeaten 73 was a measure of revenge for ther in the crowd. “We knew
off 48 balls. a runner-up finish in the 50- we needed one or two big Earlier, after being put in to
over World Cup in England overs … for my dad to travel bat, England missed the in- “Full credit to Kane and his
England, which had posted in 2019. The final between halfway round the world and jured batter Jason Roy up team, they outplayed us to-
166-4 on the back of Moeen England and New Zealand be here is pretty cool.” front. In-form Jos Buttler day,” Morgan said. “I can’t
Ali’s unbeaten 51 off 37, finished in a tie — with some (29) looked to settle for an- fault anything that we’ve
seemed in control until Chris critics questioning an umpir- Woakes had made early in- other big knock but played done tonight. We’ve fought
Jordan returned to bowl the ing decision which poten- roads in his first two overs an extravagant reverse sweep hard and represented our-
17th over. Then New Zea- tially cost the Blacks Caps when he dismissed Martin against Ish Sodhi and was ad- selves well, but come up
land, which won the inaugu- a victory — then the teams Guptill and Williamson as judged lbw in the ninth over. short tonight.”
ral World Test Championship couldn’t be split in a Super New Zealand slipped to 2-13.
in June, turned the tables Over tiebreaker. England was Wicketkeeper Conway Morgan, who led England
on the 50-over World Cup awarded the World Cup on a England didn’t allow Mitch- dropped a low catch on his to the top of Group 1 in the
champions. countback determined by the ell and Conway to score left which could have dis- Super 12 stage with four wins
number of boundaries hit. freely, with Liam Livingstone missed Dawid Malan (41) on from five games, compli-
“We had wickets in hand (2-22) bowling an impressive 10 in the next over before the mented the efforts of Neesh-
which was really important,” Now the New Zealanders spell in the middle overs and left-hander went on to add a am while lamenting the fact
New Zealand skipper Kane are potentially one win away, getting the wickets of Con- combined 63 runs with Ali. that his team couldn’t hit big
Williamson said. “Neesham again, from capturing their way and Glenn Phillips. shots in the late overs.
came out and hit the ball first major limited-overs But New Zealand’s pace
hard, changed the momen- prize. But Neesham’s clean hitting spearhead Tim Southee (1- “We posted a par score and
tum of the game.” followed by Mitchell’s su- 24) broke the stand when felt in the game at the half-
The final is Sunday, with perb finishing denied Eng- he had Malan caught behind way,” he said. “To have the
Neesham hammered the fast New Zealand set to play the land a second successive ap- off an inside edge as England ability to hit sixes from ball
bowler for two sixes and a winner of Thursday’s semifi- pearance in the final. struggled to find boundaries one (like Neesham), full
four in an over which went nal match between Australia in the last five overs. credit to him.”

Spain facing injury battle ahead of decisive qualifiers

(AP) — Spain enters its decisive third-place Greece. Only the group Also missing from the Euro 2020
World Cup qualifiers against winners directly qualify for next squad are Gerard Moreno, Mikel Two victories will be enough for
Greece and Sweden without some year’s tournament in Qatar, while the Oyarzabal and Eric García. Spain to finish first in its group and
key players because of injuries. second-place finishers will have to go qualify for the World Cup without
through a playoff. García was was hurt while playing depending on other results.
Nine players are not available for for Barcelona in the Spanish league,
coach Luis Enrique for the matches Pedri González, Ferran Torres and as was young forward Ansu Fati, who A draw against Greece will guarantee
at Greece on Thursday and against Marcos Llorente, who helped lead was returning to the national team af- at least a second-place finish in the
Sweden on Sunday. Spain to the semifinals of the Euro- ter a long absence because of another group, which would send Spain into
pean Championship a few months injury. the playoffs against the other nine
Spain enters its final two matches in ago, are among those who couldn’t group runners-up and two group
second place in Group B, two points be called up by Luis Enrique. Yeremi Pino was another player who winners from the UEFA Nations
behind Sweden and four ahead of got injured and had to be replaced af- League. The 12 countries will be
ter being called up. drawn into three four-team brackets
and play next March. Seeded teams
Luis Enrique said Wednesday that getting a home game in the bracket
Mikel Merino also isn’t likely to play semifinals.
on Thursday, though he will remain
with the squad. A win by Sweden at fourth-place
Georgia on Thursday and a Spain
“We have to focus on what we can draw against Greece will secure first
control,” Luis Enrique said. “I’m place for the Swedes.
thrilled with the players I was able to
bring. Fortunately, I’m a coach who Spain has qualified for every World
can choose from at least 60 players Cup since 1978, winning its lone title
who have a lot of quality. We are pre- in 2010 in South Africa. It was elimi-
pared.” nated by host Russia in the last 16 of
the 2018 World Cup.
The coach was able to get a few play-
ers back after they recovered from “I can’t imagine a World Cup without
recent injuries, including Pau Tor- Spain,” forward Brahim Díaz said.
res, José Luis Gayà, Jordi Alba, Álvaro “We have two finals ahead of us and
Morata and Dani Olmo. we have to win them.”