Semi-final hero Finn Allen said New Zealand’s thumping demi-final win over South Africa was a “huge confidence booster” ahead of going for their maiden T20 World Cup title in Sunday’s final.

Opener Allen hit the fastest-ever T20 World Cup century, off 33 balls, to give his side a crushing nine-wicket win over South Africa and set up a final against India or England in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Allen blasted 10 fours and eight sixes as New Zealand raced to their victory target of 170 with 7.1 overs to spare at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

It was a bruising defeat for 2024 runners-up South Africa, who had been unbeaten in the tournament.

“They fight hard, they come hard at us, they’ve got good tall, fast bowlers and it makes it challenging for us,” Allen said of Aiden Markram’s South Africa.

“Their boys hit the ball hard, so to get one over them is a huge confidence booster for us going into Sunday. They’ve been the in-form team the whole tournament.”

The Auckland-born Allen rose to the occasion in the knockout match after ordinary outings in the tournament apart from his unbeaten 84 against the UAE in a group fixture.

Allen said his heroics in India would have kept his parents and the nation awake to cheer the team.

“I’m sure my parents are up watching the whole game. Hopefully, they’re proud.

“But I think as a nation, I think hopefully everyone gets behind us and rallies around us for Sunday,” said Allen.

The final will begin at around 2:30am on Monday morning.

“Obviously, difficult time for people to watch back home but I’m sure people were keeping tabs on the game and hopefully they can get up and have a Monday off at work and watch the final.”

Allen put on 117 with opening partner Tim Seifert, who made 58, to pummel the opposition attack that included high-quality pacemen Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

‘Best seat in the house’

Seifert was the early aggressor as he raced to 41 off 21 balls before Allen took over and finished with two fours, two sixes and a four to raise his hundred and seal victory.

Allen said batting with Seifert makes life easy.

“He’s in incredible form, he’s an incredible player and I think he’s just showing the world what he can do,” said Allen.

“And I think that makes it easy for me to sit back and have the best seat in the house. So, yeah, it’s good fun batting with Timmy.”

New Zealand squeaked into the semi-finals on net run-rate ahead of Pakistan and lost to South Africa by seven wickets in the group stage.

But Allen said a five-match T20 series in India, which the visitors lost 4-1 ahead of the World Cup, prepared them for the grind.

“I think it shows the importance of that India series that the boys played before the World Cup,” he said.

“Five games on all black soil [pitches] and I think it just shows that as a team we get up for the fight [in] those important fixtures.”

LIVERPOOL: Resurgent bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers stunned Liverpool with a last-gasp 2-1 win at a rocking Molineux on Tuesday to offer a glimpse of a miraculous escape from relegation while putting a big dent in the top-five hopes of Arne Slot’s side.

A dull game burst into life in the final stages with Rodrigo Gomes putting the hosts ahead only for Mohamed Salah to level with his first Premier League goal since November.

But a deflected effort by Andre wrong-footed keeper Alisson in the 94th minute to seal a second successive win for Wolves who also beat Aston Villa at home on Friday — manager Rob Edwards celebrating with a wild sprint down the touchline.

Meanwhile, Everton shrugged off a seven-match winless run at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium with a 2-0 victory over Burnley boosting their chances of European qualification.

Elsewhere, Leeds United’s Premier League relegation fears deepened with a 1-0 home defeat by Sunderland on Tuesday.

Bournemouth and Brentford drew 0-0 — a result that moved Bournemouth into the top half and left Brentford seventh.

Wolves have looked doomed since picking up two points from their opening 18 matches — the worst start in Premier League history — but suddenly they are re-energised.

They are still bottom with 16 points from 30 games, 11 points from the safety zone, but where there was only despair and gloom, pride has been restored and a glimmer of hope, even if relegation still looks a certainty.

“Never mind the position you’re in, any time you beat Liverpool you have to enjoy it,” Edwards, whose side also drew with leaders Arsenal last month, told Sky Sports.

“It was a big, big night for us. We are trying to build momentum and turn things around. We are showing fight and spirit and also quality. We are competing with everyone and there is a belief we are going in the right direction.”

The teams meet again on Friday in the FA Cup fifth round.

It was the fifth time this season Liverpool have lost in stoppage time and it left Slot’s side in fifth place with 48 points.

“Bad result,” Slot said. “We are losing far too many football games and dropping points. “Was it again in extra (added) time that we conceded? The three times we lost in the last 22 games were all in extra time.”

At the Hill Dickinson Stadium, James Tarkowski’s first-half header and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s second-half shot gave eighth-placed Everton their first home win for three months to put them two points behind Chelsea.

Everton’s move out of their historic Goodison Park home to a state-of-the-art arena next to the River Mersey has elevated the club’s income but wins have been hard to come by.

But David Moyes’s side comfortably disposed of second-from-bottom Burnley.

Defender Tarkowski broke the deadlock against his former club in the 32nd minute with a thumping header from James Garner’s in-swinging delivery. The hosts doubled their lead on the hour when Iliman Ndiaye sent Dewsbury-Hall clear to dink a finish over Martin Dubravka.

Idrissa Gueye almost made it 3-0 with a curling effort that smacked against the crossbar. Burnley’s 18th league defeat of the season left them eight points from the safety zone with nine games remaining and only three points above in-form Wolves.

Fifteenth-placed Leeds had the chance to move nine points clear of 18th-placed West Ham United but missed out as Sunderland took the points thanks to a second-half penalty converted by Habib Diarra at a raucous Elland Road.

Leeds had seen a goal by Joe Rodon ruled out for offside shortly before Sunderland’s penalty, awarded after a VAR check for a handball by Ethan Ampadu.

The win put promoted Sunderland on 40 points, 15 ahead of the relegation zone, and seemingly safe.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2026

LAHORE: It seems that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) remains extremely confused on where to stage the National T20 Cup as it again shifted the tournament on Wednesday, this time from Multan to Peshawar, the original venue of the event.

This is the third time the venue for the 10-team event was changed in recent days. The matches, according to the latest change, will be played at the Imran Khan Stadium, the new name of Peshawar’s Arbab Niaz Stadium.

On Tuesday, when four participating teams following their travel plan reached Rawalpindi, where the tournament had been moved from Peshawar, they were asked by the PCB to move to Multan, citing that the said event had been shifted there.

As a result, the luggage of the teams was transported to Multan late Tuesday night. However, sources close to the situation told Dawn that now the luggage is returning to Peshawar from Multan.

Earlier, the tournament was to start from March 5 but now due to logistical issues, it will commence from March 7.

Interestingly, HBL Pakistan Super League chief executive Salman Naseer, during a press conference in Lahore on Tuesday, said that the Peshawar venue was not fully prepared to host matches due to some technical issues, including some related to the ground, no match of the PSL-11 will be held there.

Surprisingly, now a national-level tournament has been shifted to Peshawar.

Ten regional teams, divided into two groups, are going to participate in the National T20 Cup.

Lahore Whites, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Karachi Whites and Bahawalpur are included in Group ‘A’ while Group ‘B’ contains Lahore Blues, Sialkot, Multan, Abbottabad and Karachi Blues.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2026