Opener Daryl Mitchell said it was “awesome” to play a key role in New Zealand’s five-wicket win over England and advance to their first-ever Twenty20 World Cup final on Wednesday.
After Jimmy Neesham turned the semi-final on its head with an 11-ball 27, Mitchell smashed an unbeaten 72 to help New Zealand chase down their target of 167 in 19 overs in Abu Dhabi.
It will be Kane Williamson’s third world final in two years, following losses to England in the 2019 50-over World Cup and a victory over India in the inaugural Test championship earlier in 2021.
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“Look, we’re a group of Kiwis. “With only five million of us, we’re obviously very proud to be representing our country,” man of the match Mitchell said.
“We’ve had some success in recent years.” We’ll celebrate the victory tonight, but we’ll move on quickly.
“We know we have a final on Sunday, and whoever we face should be a lot of fun.”
In the title match, New Zealand will face either Australia or Pakistan on November 14 in Dubai.
Mitchell, who hit four fours and four sixes in his 47-ball blitz, is making his T20 World Cup debut after making his international debut in 2019.
Following Neesham’s dismissal, Mitchell smashed Chris Woakes for two sixes and one four, sparking celebrations in the dugout.
“It’s obviously an honor to represent my country in a World Cup,” Mitchell said. “If you said this five, six years ago, I would have laughed at you, so to be sitting here right now is incredible.”
With Martin Guptill and skipper Kane Williamson back in the pavilion, New Zealand was in early trouble at 13-2.
Mitchell and Devon Conway (46 runs) then put on 82 runs for the third wicket, but runs were still scarce as England rotated their bowling options.
Glenn Phillips was out, and New Zealand had fallen to 107-4 when Neesham came in and changed the course of the match with Mitchell, putting on 40 off 17 balls.
Mitchell stated that he never thought the target was out of reach.
“No, it probably sounds strange, but it never felt like it was out of our reach,” Mitchell explained.
“We knew there were going to be matchups there that might suit us towards the end, especially with that smaller side boundary on one side.”
“I thought the way ‘Neesh’ came out and dominated that one really set the momentum heading into those last few, so yeah, take my hat off to him.” He made one hell of a knock.”
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