Pakistan captain Babar Azam urged his side to relish the moment after reaching their first T20 World Cup final in 13 years with victory over New Zealand.
A wonderful opening stand of 105 from the skipper and Mohammad Rizwan (57) guided them to a seven-wicket victory over the Black Caps in the first semi-final in Sydney, as they successfully chased down 153.
It sends Pakistan into the tournament's showpiece game for the first time since 2009, when they defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets at Lord's to lift the trophy for the first and only time in their history.
Having sneaked into the semi-finals thanks to a shock South Africa collapse against the Netherlands in Group 2, Babar's side could now go all the way - and he says they will celebrate their achievement justly.
"We will enjoy this moment, but at the same time we will focus on the final," Babar said after scoring 53 from 42 balls.
"The way the team performed in the last three matches [has been incredible]. Thanks to the crowd, it feels like we are playing at home.
"We had a really good start with the first six overs, we knew our spinners could then come on later. We were happy to chase around 150.
"Then we had a plan before the chase to attack the first six overs, so we could get the momentum. We knew later on the other players could chip in.
"We don't know who we've got yet, so we will be watching tomorrow, but we have got a few days to get together and discuss that game."
Pakistan will await either India or England, who meet on Thursday in the second semi-final in Adelaide.
England captain Jos Buttler believes India are favourites for World Cup
Jos Buttler believes the weight of history suggests India are clear-cut favourites to win the World Cup on home soil despite England’s considerable experience of the conditions.
Staging the showpiece in recent years has come with a distinct advantage as the last three editions – India in 2011, Australia in 2015 and England in 2019 – have all been won by the host nation.
England may be double world champions, but even a side that turbocharged the white-ball formats have fallen short in India, losing keenly contested ODI and T20 series both in early 2017 and spring 2021.
While Buttler is bullish about England’s fortunes, he rates an India side that have won 14 of their last 16 ODI series on their own patch as well as the Asia Cup earlier this month as the team to beat.
“The clear favourites are India,” Buttler told the PA news agency. “You only have to look at the past few World Cups – England won in England, Australia won in Australia and India won in India before that.
“History tells you that it’s quite advantageous to be the home nation and they’re obviously a brilliant team. In their own conditions, India are fantastic. I certainly see them as favourites.
“We’re going out there to try to win a World Cup – we don’t see ourselves as defending champions. It’s very much a new tournament and we know it’s going to be tough because there are some top, top teams.
“But we know we’re a really good team, a dangerous team, we’ve got a lot of experience in the group and we back ourselves.”
England have arrived in Guwahati ahead of three warm-ups which will act as final preparation for the tournament opener against New Zealand – a rematch of the 2019 final – in Ahmedabad next Thursday.
Their 15-strong squad contains eight members of the side that went all the way four years ago, while Gus Atkinson is an outlier as the only one who has not featured in the Indian Premier League.
A number of others including Buttler, an IPL regular since 2016, have substantial knowledge of what to expect in India which England’s limited-overs captain hopes they can exploit.
Speaking to promote England’s official kit supplier Castore extending its ‘summer of sport’ campaign to highlight key occasions such as the World Cup, Buttler said: “It gives you a sense of familiarity.
“A lot of the cricket grounds we’ll play at, guys will have played there and know the surroundings. They will understand the pitches and conditions, more so than if they’d not been there before.
“There’s a lot of other teams that have that advantage as well with guys playing a lot of IPL cricket, it’s been around for quite a few years now so everyone’s accustomed to playing in India in that sense.”
Jofra Archer will be England’s only travelling reserve as he completes his rehabilitation from the latest stress fracture in his right elbow that ruled him out of the entire summer schedule.
He will not be ready to make his return until at least the latter stages of the tournament, raising the prospect of him making a dramatic comeback if injury strikes one of England’s quick bowlers.
While England are cautious over rushing back the bowler who was entrusted with the super over that led to them being crowned world champions for the first time, Buttler is delighted to have Archer in tow.
“He’s someone who will go on and have so much impact for England,” Buttler added. “Everyone is hopeful this will be the end of his injuries and we can see him back on the park more consistently.
“He’s such a superstar, you want to see these guys perform, he’s someone who puts bums on seats.”
:: Jos Buttler was speaking to promote Castore, the official kit suppliers of the England cricket team, investing in an extension to its national brand marketing campaign. For more information, visit https://castore.com
Rahmarack stars with the ball as Windies Women defeat New South Wales by four wickets at Wilson Park
The West Indies Women got their tour of Australia off to a winning start with a four-wicket victory over a New South Wales (NSW) Women's team at Wilson Park.
Karishma Ramharack had the NSW ladies spun tightly in her web of off-spin and were restricted to posted 105-9 from their 20 overs. Ramharack finished with figures of 3-12. Captain Hayley Matthews supported with some wizardry of her own taking 2-7 from her two overs.
NSW skipper Sammy-Jo Johnson was the top-scorer with 28 with Hannah Darlington making 24.
Shemaine Campbelle led the West Indies Women's run-chase posting 33 from 34 deliveries which included five boundaries. Skipper Matthews was next best with 24 off 27. Aaliyah Alleyne 19 not out and Zaida James 15 not out took the visitors home to victory in 17.5 overs.
Head Coach Shane Deitz was pleased with the team's first outing since arriving in Australia four days ago.
“It's good to get the first win on tour. I think we've got a lot of areas we need to improve on, especially getting used to batting on these wickets with some extra pace and bounce. Overall, I think we played generally good all-round and it's going to put us in a good position to play on Sunday,” he said.
The ODI series against Australia is West Indies’ fourth fixture in the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-2025 after playing New Zealand, England and Ireland.
Each match provides West Indies with opportunity to win valuable points to climb the Championship table where they currently lie ninth of 10 teams.
Following the Australia Series, West Indies Women will play four three-match ODI series over the next two years. At the end of the cycle, the top five teams in the ICC Women’s Championship will book berths in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 along with hosts India.
The remaining teams will have to go through the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
Surrey retain County Championship title after Essex batting collapse
Surrey have retained their LV= Insurance County Championship title as Essex’s slim hopes ended after their batters collapsed in a heap against Northamptonshire.
A 20-point gap between the top two Division One teams heading into the final round meant Surrey needed just five points in their fixture against Hampshire to celebrate a 21st championship triumph.
They secured three bowling bonus points at the Ageas Bowl but none with the bat, which opened the door for Essex, who needed to amass a 400-plus score in 110 overs to have any chance of catching Surrey.
But Essex were unable to claim the maximum amount of batting bonus points as they capitulated to 211 all out on Thursday morning, with last man Jamie Porter bowled by Tom Taylor to crown Surrey champions.
Surrey, who have won the championship five times since the turn of the century, became the first side since Yorkshire in 2014 and 2015 to claim back-to-back titles.
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