Sports
Allen, Milne fashion New Zealand’s 2-0 lead
New Zealand romped to a 2-0 series lead against Pakistan with a convincing 21-run win over New Zealand at Seddon Park. The victory was fashioned by a blazing 41-ball 74 from Finn Allen. Although Pakistan did well to bounce back and keep their hosts to a sub-200 score and threatened to chase it down through an 87-run stand between Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, a four-fer from Adam Milne helped seal the deal for the Black Caps.
Seddon Park rolled out beautiful batting conditions and that was good enough for an unchanged Pakistan side to have a target to chase. It became evident early that it was going to be a big number as the first three overs produced 30 runs. Allen was the aggressor in chief, picking Haris Rauf off for a four and six in his first over before launching Shaheen Afridi over deep mid-wicket for another six. Rauf’s second over brought further pain as Allen and Devon Conway plundered 18 more runs.
Eventually the 59-run opening stand was ended with the first ball of the sixth over when Aamer Jamal had Conway miscuing a pickup shot. By that time, though, Allen had 36 off 16 with three fours and an equal number of sixes.
The New Zealand captain was an ideal follow-up act, shimmying out of his crease to drill the fourth ball he faced to the cover boundary. Williamson took a liking to Aamer Jamal, hitting him for two fours and a six and his 50-run stand (off just 29 balls) with Allen took New Zealand to 111/1 after 10 overs. It was in that 10th over, however, that the Black Caps skipper experienced tightness in his right hamstring while completing a run and upon receiving some treatment on the field, he trudged off the field, retiring hurt after a 15-ball 26.
Williamson has already been rested for the next T20I with a view to managing his fitness following a string of recent injuries. It remains to be seen if he returns for the final two games of the series.
After conceding 111 in the first half of the innings, Pakistan conceded only 83 runs in the second half. This despite Allen building on from a 24-ball 50 to finish with 74 off 41 deliveries. Pakistan were excellent in keeping batters at the other end quiet. Legspinner Usama Mir triggered the mini-collapse by bowling Allen off a googly before Abbas Afridi had Daryl Mitchell chop one onto his stumps in the following over.
Even as the returning Mitchell Santner ransacked 14 off an Aamer Jamal over, Rauf produced an excellent 19th over, giving away just five runs and taking three wickets. A seven-run final over meant New Zealand fell short of the 200-mark they were expected to easily breach.
Mohammad Rizwan hit a six off the first ball he faced but Pakistan were two down inside nine balls of the chase. Saim Ayub tried to take on the longer boundary and perished in his attempts while the excellent Milne found great shape on an outswinger to entice Rizwan into chasing and edging to the ‘keeper. Pakistan averted more trouble as Fakhar Zaman was put down on zero in that same Milne over with Ben Sears dropping a regulation take at short fine-leg.
Babar got off a typical Babar start, driving boundaries on the up and racing away to 28 off 15. At the other end, Zaman made most of the reprieve he was handed and tore into the bowling not too dissimilar to how he took down the New Zealand attack in the recent ODI World Cup clash between these sides. After taking Pakistan to a 61-run powerplay, Zaman used his matchup advantage against legspinner Ish Sodhi to devastating effect, slamming a pair of sixes to speed away to a 25-ball half-century.
The decision to bowl Milne for a third over in the first half of the innings worked wonders for stand-in skipper Tim Southee as the speedster had Zaman drag a delivery onto the stumps. It allowed Sodhi to continue and bowl out his quota and he dismissed both Azam Khan and Aamer Jamal as Pakistan slipped to 127/6.
Babar Azam completed a second half-century on the bounce, off 36 balls, but he was quickly running out of partners. He kept the visitors in the fray with a couple of sixes, one each of Santner and Southee. But Pakistan’s fate was sealed when their former captain fell to Ben Sears off the first ball of the 18th over and they eventually fell short by 21 runs with Milne finishing with 4 for 33.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 194/8 in 20 overs (Finn Allen 74, Kane Williamson 26; Haris Rauf 3-38) beat Pakistan 173 in 19.3 overs (Babar Azam 66, Fakhar Zaman 50; Adam Milne 4-33) by 21 runs
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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