Having won all four of their group matches, New Zealand emerged as the tournament favourites heading into the semi-final at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

The tag appeared justified when after the early loss of opener Martin Guptill, Colin Munro smashed 46 off 32 balls to help New Zealand to 107, when he was caught off the bowling of Liam Plunkett.

His dismissal with six overs remaining prompted the 2014 finalist’s run-rate to drop drastically as England launched an impressive fightback.

Superb bowling from Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes in the final four overs saw England concede just further one boundary, which restricted New Zealand to a total of 153.

Jason Roy then began the England response in stunning fashion by hitting Corey Anderson for four fours from the first over and eventually ended his innings with 78 off just 44 balls.

A knock of 27 by Joe Root and a quick-fire 32 by Jos Buttler helped England reach their target with over two overs to spare.

England will now meet the West Indies or hosts India in the final, with the second semi-final scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, England had fallen to defeat in the first women’s semi-final after Meg Lanning scored a half-century to guide Australia into the final.

The two nations had met in the final of the last two tournaments, in 2012 and 2014, with Australia prevailing on both occasions.

Elyse Villani and Alyssa Healy looked to continue Australia’s strong record and scored freely in the opening overs of the match, to rapidly approach a 50 partnership.

However they would fail to reach that milestone with the pair both falling to leg before wicket decisions, with the Australian innings threatening to fall apart.

Their captain Lanning was able to steady the team by producing a measured display to reach a 55 off 50 balls to lead them to a total of 132-6.

England, fresh from winning all four group matches, looked on course to reach the Australia target when their captain Charlotte Edwards and Tammy Beaumont scored 31 and 32 respectively.

The loss of the openers though saw England’s run-rate drop significantly and they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Sarah Taylor’s 21 runs proved only enough to help her team get close to Australia’s tally, but England ultimately fell to a five-run defeat after managing 127-7.

Australia are due to meet the winners of New Zealand’s match with the West Indies in tomorrow's final, which will be played on Sunday.