Semi-final: Australia 177-5; beat
Pakistan 176-4 by five wicketsMatthew Wade’s brilliant sixes set up
New Zealand clashA match blessed with so much drama it kept coming even after the final runs had been hit and the players had left the field, illuminated with several outstanding individual performances and a couple of unexpected plot twists, ended with Matthew Wade powering Australia to victory over Pakistan and a place in an entirely antipodean T20
World Cup final against New Zealand on Sunday.
In the moments after their unexpected pursuit of the title had been terminally derailed, Pakistan announced that before passing a fitness test on the morning of the game their opener Mohammad Rizwan had spent two nights in hospital, some of it apparently in intensive care, with a chest infection, a development they had kept secret to protect team morale. Having declared himself fully recovered Rizwan proceeded to hit a 52-ball 67, remarkably assured in the circumstances, in which the only pain was that he inflicted on the Australians.