5th over: England 43-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 20, Dunkley 1) Tahuhu, for one last stint. Iconic headband, narrowed eye. DWH slides a wide one between backward point and deep third for four.

3rd over: England 31-0 (Jones 16, Wyatt-Hodge 10) Jones gets in on the act, clonking Illing’s first two balls for four, through midwicket, then backward point, then square-driving the fifth for another.

2nd over: England 19-0 (Jones 4, Wyatt-Hodge 10) Kerr bustles in. DWH continues her excellent work in the tournament with the innings’ first boundaries off the bat, two of them, as she cuts, boots in the air, then pings over off side like a ping-pong player.

1st over: England 8-0 (Jones 2, Wyatt-Hodge 1) The lights are on, the south London skies start, slowly, to dim. Illing with the first over – fast and accurate. Just a single off the first three balls but the fourth ball wobbles legside for five wides. Illing hits 119.4kph.

At the break, England are on top but New Zealand have a squirrel of a chance. Time to grab a quick drink of water.

19th over: New Zealand 158-5 ( Green 14, Bates 17) Three singles and leg bye – England unusuccesfully review an lbw against Bates – then Green steers behind square, screaming past a diving Bell for four.

18th over: New Zealand 148-5 ( Green 6, Bates 16) Dunkley cuts a finger in the field and jogs off the field to get taped up. Three singles mellows the mood but then Bates strikes the phosphorus. Finds the rope with an oopla sweep over her shoulder for four and ends up on her bum. She reverses, somewhat inelegantly, woodcutter-style, over the fielder for four more. Then a third successive four to finish the over, settles outside her stumps and flames legside.

17th over: New Zealand 133-5 ( Green 4, Bates 3) When you want quick runs, you don’t want to face Linsey Smith and miserly left arm. She rubs her fingers in the dirt. Five singles from it and a quarter-chance for Kemp in the field who chases a sweep from Green a square leg but can’t get there.

16th over: New Zealand 128-5 ( Green 1, Bates 1) Another two-wicket over for England! A double change with Bell replacing Dean. Some great hands from Kemp on the boundary who took that smashing catch in the last game. Then the wickets just as New Zealand got spikes on the track.

15th over: New Zealand 122-3 (Devine 28, Halliday 18) Back to Ecclestone, whose two overs have only cost seven runs. Ha, Devine has something to say about that – drops to her knee and slog-sweeps six more.

14th over: New Zealand 113-3 (Devine 21, Halliday 17) Charlie Dean. Halliday reverse-sweeps four past backward point. Then Devine one step, two -swings SIX, massive, over long on. And another one next ball, bigger even with a not done yet stamp. Seventeen from the over as they take DRINKS

13th over: New Zealand 96-3 (Devine 9, Halliday 12) Gibson again. In the dugout Edwards has her leg crossed, lounging. Some great fielding on the boundary by DWH (I think) stops four, but Devine finds the boundary next ball, swivelling with glee. Four legside wides follow.

12th over: New Zealand 80-3 (Devine 2, Halliday 8) Halliday plumps her leg forward and crabs four off Dean through mid-off. New Zealand, I am told, have now played the equivalent of five overs of dot balls. In 12!

11th over: New Zealand 74-3 (Devine 1, Halliday 3) New Zealand have dropped purse, keys and novel into the mire. Devine now has her work cut out in her final (possible) appearance. Great over by Gibson.

9th over: New Zealand 59-0 (Kerr 41, Gaze 18) England burn a review going upstairs for a caught behind off Ecclestone as Gaze sweeps and misses. Was it glove? It was not. Next ball Gaze punts down the ground just over a reaching Ecclestone arm. Four from the over.

8th over: New Zealand 55-0 (Kerr 40, Gaze 15) Dean brings herself on to replace Gibson, and Kerr immediately crashes her past mid off for four. Ecclestone claps vigorously in the field shouting encouragement. There is plenty of firepower in the bank for NZ, they probably need to go for broke quite soon.

7th over: New Zealand 47-0 (Kerr 33, Gaze 14) The rain is starting to fall in Manchester, but I don’t think it will make it down to The Oval in three hours. The power play ends but Sophie Ecclestone begins. The replays are showing that Kerr got an edge to the last ball of the last over which Jones lost track of – very hard though. Just three singles from the over.

6th over: New Zealand 44-0 (Kerr 31, Gaze 13) The final over of the power play is handed to Dani Gibson. Kerr is starting to motor. Four through the covers, four more scooped like a blissed out graduate flicking tie over shoulder at the end of a midsummer ball.

5th over: New Zealand 34-0 (Kerr 22, Gaze 12) Kerr sweeps Smith legside for four. And then Gaze does the same two balls later, with a huge elaborate stride of the front leg. A bird’s eye view of the ground shows a very pretty picture, London stretching behind, azure skies.

4th over: New Zealand 22-0 (Kerr 15, Gaze 7) Bell, hoppety, skip, strides in. A better, neater, over. Gaze tries to pull a bouncer but misses, by a fingernail. Just two runs from it. New Zealand might need to step on it here.

If you’re at The Oval, do let me know what the atmosphere is like – looks great.

3rd over: New Zealand 20-0 (Kerr 14, Gaze 6) Smith is so rapid through her overs, no time for the batters to prep. Three singles keeps things ticking over then Gaze takes a large step down the pitch and sweeps her backward of square for four.

2nd over: New Zealand 12-0 (Kerr 12, Gaze 0) It looks pretty full at The Oval, spectators baking in the late afternoon sun, clad in sunglasses and wafting vigorously. A big round of applause for Lauren Bell. Her third ball is pretty short and Kerr duly finds her fighting stance and pulls her uppish and square for four. Four more comes through deep third. They run a quick single off the last – too risky? we’ll never know as Ecclestone fumbles in the field.

1st over: New Zealand 1-0 (Kerr 1, Gaze 0) Linsey Smith with the new ball. Tosses it from hand to hand, collar buttoned up to the top, white suncream smeared in a stripe across her nose and cheeks. Just a single from the over as Smith is on the money straight away.

The commentators are all very interested in the “greenish tinge” on the pitch.. Manna for Lauren Bell perhaps. Did Melie Kerr make the wrong choice at the toss? We will soon find out – Kerr and Gaze gallop onto the pitch.

The flags have been unfurled and we await the anthems. This match could mark the end of an unbelievable era for New Zealand cricket with Sophie Devine, Lea Tahuhu and Susie Bates all hanging up their boots at the end of this competition. The New Zealand women look quite emotional actually, England relaxed.

Raf is at The Oval, laptop read. “ It’s lovely here now – cooler than yesterday with sunshine and an evening breeze. Mid warm up, some of the NZ players gathered round the TV in their changing room to watch the denouement of Ireland v Windies. Lots of dancing and jumping up and down before resuming their warm up!”

Lovely stuff, as Nasser says, there is now real tension in this match.

Nasser Hussain is excited about this game for England. “It is going to be virtually a sell out, The Oval is a ground they like, and it is now a live game. It is perfect preparation for the semi final coming up, and will focus the mind.”

Today’s action is at The Oval, where the temperatures are not quite as dastardly as they have been. Ah, they’re out in the middle, here comes the toss…