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WT20 Today: Semi-finals beckon for England, Stars

Your daily look at the 2016 ICC World T20 featuring the best highlights, pics, tweets, stats and more

LAST NIGHT

Despite a valiant late effort from Sri Lanka, the defending champions had their tournament ended by England who booked a spot in the semi-finals, while New Zealand maintained their perfect record by toppling Bangladesh.

England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler was billed as a player to watch in the lead-up to this World T20 and the powerful right-hander delivered with a crushing knock of 66 off 37 balls to help his side post 171.

WATCH: Buttler does it for England with cool 66

At 4-15 after three overs, Sri Lanka's hopes of reclaiming their title looked in tatters but, once again, a superb rearguard from captain Angelo Mathews (73 off 54 balls) brought his side back into the contest.

The allrounder was particularly brutal on England's spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, helping to take them for 63 from their combined four overs as Mathews helped himself to five sixes in his innings.

But England's fast-bowlers, who have come under fire this tournament, stood up and Ben Stokes (0-19 off four overs) and Chris Jordan (4-28 off four) silenced their critics with some excellent death-bowling as Sri Lanka came up ten runs short.

WATCH: England thrive at the death to thwart Sri Lanka

England's win assures them of a semi-final berth and consigns the Sri Lanka-South Africa match to a dead-rubber.

In the other match overnight, the Kiwis took care of business against the winless Bangladesh.

New Zealand were well-contained by the Tigers' bowlers, with Mustafizur Rahman (5-22 off four) particularly impressing with his clever changes of pace and the seamer picked up the key wicket of Black Caps' skipper Kane Williamson for 42 (off 32 balls).

WATCH: Mustafizur cuts through Black Caps for five-wicket haul

But Bangladesh crumbled in the face of some quality bowling, with leg-spinner Ish Sodhi (3-21 off four) continuing with fine tournament and medium-pacer Grant Elliott pitching in with 3-12 off four miserly overs.

New Zealand have the top-spot in Group 2 sewed up, with India and Australia to battle it out for the second semi-final qualifying spot in the group tonight.

TWEET OF THE NIGHT

England gun Sarah Taylor sums up how we're all feeling after a night of thrilling World T20 action.

PIC OF THE NIGHT

Nothing says 'We've made the semi-finals' better than a team selfie. We love how excited Ellyse Perry is in the background!  

Image Id: ~/media/9DD52F8567AC4B568C5AE6DF548051F1 Image Caption: Player of the match Megan Schutt takes the team selfie // cricket.com.au

AUSTRALIA'S MEN

A day off in Chandigarh for Darren Lehmann's boys, but tonight is the biggest match of the World T20 so far. Yes, bigger than India-Pakistan because defeat tonight will mean a certain exit from the tournament. One way or another, a powerhouse of world cricket is out much earlier than they expected tonight.

The team awoke to a bit of a social media storm created by Mitchell Johnson's tweet that Kohli was prone to go "missing" in the big matches, citing last year's World Cup semi-final as evidence. That pair have a protracted history, but Steve Smith and co might well feel they could have done without adding any fuel to Kohli's fire given his outstanding T20 record.

Quick Single: Johnson takes aim at 'missing' Kohli

"It's like a quarter-final I suppose," Glenn Maxwell told cricket.com.au. "It's a similar position to the one we were in last year – we had to win the last three games to win the World Cup. It's a good position to be in; we like to put the pressure on ourselves in these positions where we have to win. It's something that we thrive on. 

"We're lucky enough to play on this ground again, it's a ground that probably suits us more than a few others in India – it's bigger, the wicket is nice and true, it bounces nice for us and hopefully it can make for a good spectacle in a couple of days."

AUSTRALIA'S WOMEN

The Southern Stars booked a spot in the semi-finals of the Women's World T20, thanks for a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Ireland.

After Clare Shillington and Cecelia Joyce got Ireland off to a strong start, they were well pegged back by Australia's bowlers, led by Rene Farrell (2-11), Kristen Beams (0-14) and Jess Jonassen (0-14) who were all economical in their four-over spells.

With a chance that Net Run Rate would come into play for the Stars' semi-final hopes, Australia's batters were intent to reaching the total with a minimum of fuss and despite captain Meg Lanning losing her middle stump to Irish seamer Kim Garth, Elyse Villani (35) and Ellyse Perry (28) saw the side home with 40 balls to spare.

WATCH: Southern Stars prove too good for Ireland

The win sees the Southern Stars finish in second spot to New Zealand in their group, with a semi-final clash likely to be against either the West Indies or England.

TONIGHT'S MATCHES

It's all to play for Australia and India, with the winner of their match tonight to qualify for the semi-finals and the losers to face the wrath of their disappointed fans.

The West Indies, perhaps the standout side of the tournament, most likely await the winner of that match in the semis and will tune up for the clash with their final group-stage match against Afghanistan.

In the women's action tonight, the West Indies face India (shown live on FoxSports at 9pm) while England play Pakistan in the late match.


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