Henry can finally relax after a busy but special week

Things have been busy for Matt Henry lately, and they might get even better on Sunday. When New Zealand plays in the T20 World Cup final he will have at least one extra fan cheering for him: his new son. It was really nice to be able to go home for that. It's clear that Holly is doing very well Jack is doing very well too and Annabelle is having fun being a big sister so everything is fine. So yeah it was really nice to be home for that.

But it took a lot of work. A flight from Colombo to Christchurch. A flight from Christchurch to Kolkata. In less than a week, and not just any old week. A week when the world was in chaos because of the crisis in West Asia."To be honest, there was a lot of sleeping on the way back," Henry said. "So, for me, it was important to focus on my family and getting home. If that worked out, that would be great." I'm sorry, I was always going home, but I'm back for the semi-final, so it's great to be here.

Henry got there late the night before the game against South Africa and didn't have much time to get ready but he relied on his experience. He said "We've played a lot of cricket so I think there's trust at this point." "Of course, if it rains, you can't train either. So I'm just going to make sure they're mentally fresh, ready, and confident in the skills they already have." So all I had to do was get here and do my job for the team which we were able to do.

At the end of their bowling innings New Zealand needed Henry to be at his best. Their spinners especially Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie had South Africa stuck at 113 for 5 in 16 overs. Henry himself gave up 15 runs in the 17th over. In the 18th James Neesham got 22. And Lockie Ferguson gave up 13 runs in the 19th. Henry had one left. He spent all of it talking to Mitchell Santner about when to throw a yorker when to throw a slower ball, and when to throw a bouncer, and it all worked. In the 20th over, there were two wickets in two balls and only six runs. Marco Jansen the set batter could only face two of the last six balls (52 off 28 at the time).

Henry said, "I think it was a great job to keep that side to that total of 169." "Any day here at Kolkata and Eden Gardens, I think we'd take that. Of course, it's hard to protect a small side like that too." It can be very dangerous because they have power hitters. I think we did a great job of keeping that under control. Also, getting some momentum into our batting innings, which is obviously a good thing.

Even though the semi-final was happening in the middle of the night for them, people in New Zealand are already celebrating. Henry said "I think everyone will be very happy." "But I think some people will be tired too." I think most people would have gotten up to take a look at that and then watched.

Henry couldn't play in the Champions Trophy final because he was hurt. Even though he barely made it back in time for the game he was never going to miss it. He said "No yeah it's pretty special to be able to obviously reach another final." "The guys are really excited but right now they just want to enjoy this." I think the guys have been playing some great cricket and Finn Allen has had some great innings. It's just unbelievable. So let's enjoy that and then we can move on and get ready for what's next.