Picture : : Black Caps/X
New Zealand continue to impress win the early stage of the CWC23 as they powered their way to fourth straight win, This time in hot and humid conditions in Chennai the Kiwis routed Afghanistan by 149 runs.
Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bowl first. Kiwis Lost Devon Conway for ( 20) , Will Young impressed with 54 ( 64 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes), Rachin Ravindra ( 32), Daryl Mitchell ( 1) . But the partnership between Skipper Tom Latham 68 ( 74 balls, 3 fours, 2 sixes) and Glenn Phillips 71 ( 80 balls , 4 fours , 4 sixes) took the game away from Afghanistan. Afghanistan were guilty of dropping regulation catches. And it hurt them badly . Philips and Lathan scored a match- winning 144 invaluable runs for the fifth wicket . Mark Chapman 25 off 12 towards the end played a nice cameo as New Zealand finished strongly at 288/ 6 in their 50 overs
Afghan bowling figures read : Mujeeb Ur Rahman 1/ 57 ( 10), Fazalhaq Farooqi 0/ 39 ( 7 overs), Naveen-ul-Haq 2/ 48 ( 8 overs) , Mohammad Nabi 0/ 41 ( 8 overs), Rashid Khan could have got more but for the dropped catches 1/ 43 ( 10 overs), Azmatullah Omarzai 2/ 56 ( 7 overs)
In reply the Kiwi seamers were right on top from the start . The trio of Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson and supported well by spinners Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell Santner ripped through the Afghan batting . And Afghanistan lost early wickets and that ended their chase hopes . Rahmanullah Gurbaz ( 11), Ibrahim Zadran ( 14), Rahmat Shah ( 36) , Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi ( 8), Azmatullah Omarzai ( 27), Mohammad Nabi ( 7), Rashid Khan ( 8), Mujeeb Ur Rahman ( 4), Naveen-ul-Haq ( 0), Fazalhaq Farooqi ( 0), Ikram Alikhil remained unbeaten on 19 as they were bowled out for 139/ 10 In 34. 4 overs. A easy 149 run win
The Kiwis were superb with the ball , Matt Henry 1/ 16 ( 5 overs)and in the field . Trent Boult 2/ 18 ( 7 overs), Mitchell Santner 3/ 39 ( 7.4 overs), Lockie Ferguson 3/ 19 ( 7 overs) bowled with some pace, Glenn Phillips 0/ 13 ( 3 overs) , Rachin Ravindra 1/ 34 ( 5 overs)
Match: World Cup 2023, 16th Match
Venue: Chennai | Date: October 18, 2023
