Cricket: New Zealand power through to semi-final against England

The England women's team will face New Zealand in their World Cup semi-final in Madras on Boxing Day after the Kiwis made a mess of Irish hopes of a place in the last four. The New Zealanders overran Ireland by 139 runs in Bombay yesterday.

New Zealand, who won the toss and elected to bat, were given a solid start by their openers, Debbie Hockley, who scored 70, and Emily Drumm, who made 60.

They put on 121 and, in the event, the Kiwis could have stopped there. They went on to make 244 for 3 from their 50 overs and then restricted Ireland to 105 for 9 off theirs.

The difference between the sides was as clear in the field as it was at the crease. The Irish bowlers contributed 21 wides to an extras tally of 35, but the New Zealanders fielded brilliantly, throwing themselves around in their determination to put pressure on the Irish batting. Only three of the Irish made double figures, Adele Spence top-scoring with 18 runs off 35 balls.

Australia, the only team to beat England so far in the tournament, play India in the other semi-final in Gauhati today.

New Zealand won toss

NEW ZEALAND

D Hockley c McDonald b Shillington 70

E Drumm lbw Beggs 60

S Fruin lbw McDonald 33

K Withers not out 32

*M Lewis not out 14

Extras (5b 8lb 21w 1nb) 35

Total (for 3, 50 overs) 244

Fall: 1-121, 2-175, 3-213

Did not bat: K Brown, K Ramel, R Rolls, S MacLauchan, C Nicholson, C Campbell. Bowling: McDonald 10-0-51-1; O'Neill 10-2-36-0; Spence 10-0- 51-0; Grealey 2-0-13-0; Beggs 10-0-47-1; Shillington 8-0-33-1

IRELAND

C Beggs c Rolls b Nicholson 1

B McDonald run out 14

*M Grealey c Drumm b Brown 9

N Squire c Hockley b Ramel 16

C O'Neill lbw Brown 5

C O'Leary c Lewis b Ramel 6

S Dawson b Withers 1

G Leahy st Rolls b McLauchlan 8

C Shillington run out 0

T Skoyles not out 7

A Spence not out 18

Extras (4lb 13w 3nb) 20

Total (for 9, 50 overs) 105

Fall: 1-1, 2-25, 3-25, 4-35, 5-57, 6-59, 7-67, 8-70, 9-71.

Bowling: Withers 8-2-14-1; Nicholson 7-4-13-1; Brown 9-5-12-2; Campbell 6-2-15-0; McLauchlan 8-3-15-1; Ramel 8-0-26-2; Hockley 4-2-6-0.

New Zealand beat Ireland by 139 runs.

Graham Napier, the Essex all-rounder, produced a fine spell of in-swing bowling in Port Elizabeth to take four wickets in 15 balls and lead England Under-19 to victory by 47 runs over South African Schools, who collapsed from 190 for 4 to 221 all out.