Cricket: NZ qualify for women's World Cup semis

Defending champions New Zealand assured themselves of a women's cricket World Cup semifinal berth with a confident five-wicket defeat of England in South Africa overnight (NZ time).

After restricting the English to 179 for six with a tidy bowling and fielding effort, an evenly-paced run chase saw New Zealand reach 180 for five with seven balls remaining at Pretoria's LC De Villiers Oval.

They climb to third place behind unbeaten Australia and India with one round of matches to be played starting tomorrow night (NZ time). New Zealand's opponents will be hosts South Africa, who have registered just one win at the tournament.

The only concern surrounded opening bowler Louise Milliken, who removed opener Nicky Shaw in the game's first over but left the field soon afterwards with a wrist injury. However, the injury is not believed to be serious.

England won the toss but, aside from 46 to veteran Claire Taylor, failed to ignite their innings against a slick New Zealand effort.

Anna Corbin was the tightest of the bowlers, conceding 24 runs from her 10 overs.

There were three runouts, with the most spectacular coming from Haidee Tiffen, who threw down the stumps from the boundary to remove Rosalie Birch.

New Zealand's run rate was always healthy but at 59 for three, it took a 77-run fourth-wicket partnership from Tiffen (43) and Sara McGlashan (35) to make the result safe.

An unbeaten 21 off 22 balls from Helen Watson steered New Zealand to a semifinal berth next week, most probably against India, who they beat on Thursday.

England

N Shaw c Rolls b Milliken 0
L Newton run out 30
S Taylor run out 46
C Connor c Browne b Corbin 1
A Brindle c sub (Burke) b Pullar 42
R Birch run out 24
J Gunn not out 11
J Smit not out 4
Extras (20w, 1nb) 21
Total: (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 179
Fall: 0, 76, 83, 91, 150, 173.

Bowling: L Milliken 4-0-11-1 (1nb), R Pullar 10-2-31-1 (1w), N Browne 10-1-42-0 (5w), H Watson 10-0-47-0 (2w), A Corbin 10-1-24-1 (3w), A Mason 6-1-24-0 (9w)

New Zealand

M Lewis lbw Connor 30
A Mason run out 8
R Rolls c Taylor b Guha 14
H Tiffen c Smit b Shaw 43
S McGlashan b Shaw 35
M Fahey not out 13
H Watson not out 21
Extras (3lb, 13w) 16
Total (for 5 wkts, 48.5 overs) 180
Fall: 28, 50, 59, 136, 149.
Bowling: L Pearson 1-0-4-0 (1w), K Brunt 10-1-35-0 (3w), J Gunn 10-1-33-1 (2w), I Guha 7.5-1-30-0 (4w), C Connor 9-1-31-1 (1w), R Birch 6-0-22-0, N Shaw 5-0-22-2

Result: New Zealand won by five wickets.- NZPA