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Williamson’s 35-ball 61 makes New Zealand favourites to top Group 1
Kane Williamson returned to form at just the right time, cracking 61 off 35 balls, and helped ensure that New Zealand all but confirmed a place in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup. They crossed the line comfortably against Ireland in what was virtually a must-win match, boosting what was already a high net run rate. Their 35-run win lifted their NRR to 2.113, comfortably ahead of England (0.547) and Australia (-0.304), who are both vying to finish equal on points with New Zealand.
Ireland had their moments in the game – they limited their opponents to only 12 runs off the last two overs courtesy a hat-trick from Josh Little, and openers Andy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling put on 68 off the first eight overs of their chase of 186 – but their challenge fizzled away against a skillful bowling attack. New Zealand’s effort with the ball was led by spin twins Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi, whose accurate changes of pace teased and foxed the Ireland batters in the middle overs. But much before that, Williamson had responded to his critics, finishing with a strike rate of 174.28 despite a typically quiet start. Devon Conway struggled to get going on a pitch that seemed to be on the slower side. At the halfway stage of the innings, he had managed only 19 off 28 balls, which included 14 dots. Nothing he tried – making room, driving down the ground, lofting over the infield, and even nudging the ball around – seemed to click. But his opening partner Finn Allen seemed to be batting on another pitch. Having scored six runs off his first eight balls, he pounced but the moment Ireland introduced spin, tucking into Gareth Delany in the fourth over.
He hit three boundaries off the legspinner, going over mid-off, drilling a drive down the ground, and lofting over cover. He hit Little for another four in the next over before hitting a six and a four back-to-back off Mark Adair in the final over of the powerplay. And just when it seemed he would take the game away from Ireland, he fell for 32 off 18, driving the next ball at a catchable height to mid-off. The innings began in typical Williamson fashion: he got to 15 off as many balls, with one boundary. But things started to change from the 11th over, when he attacked Fionn Hand, going over the bowler’s head for four and then swinging a pull over the fine leg boundary. Williamson got brief support from Glenn Phillips, whose cameo of 17 from nine balls helped build on the momentum, but the New Zealand captain took it upon himself to ensure his side ended with a competitive total. In a throwback to last year’s T20 World Cup final where he had lifted New Zealand after a slow start, he reached his fifty like he had in Dubai, with a slog-sweep for six. From 30 off 23 balls, he raised his tempo to reach his fifty off 32 balls – again, the same number of balls as in the 2021 final. The 18th over saw Williamson slog-sweep Barry McCarthy for six, hack him for four over short third, and again swing him over deep midwicket for six, before he became the first of three back-to-back wickets to fall to Little in the penultimate over.
Left-arm seamer Little continued to be the bright spark in a largely disappointing campaign for Ireland’s bowlers. New Zealand were 174 for 3 with 11 balls remaining, and threatened to push past 200 when Little bagged his hat-trick, the second of this tournament after Karthik Meiyappan’s effort for UAE against Sri Lanka in the first round. Little banged one short at Williamson, who pulled only to find fine leg. Next ball, Little got a bit of luck going his way when a length ball kept a touch low to beat James Neesham’s attempted leg-side swing and trap him in front. With nothing to lose, Neesham reviewed, but it was out of hope rather than belief that the lbw decision could be reversed. The hat-trick came when Little angled one into Santner, who missed a flick and reviewed the ensuing lbw decision, only for replays to confirm that the ball was on course to crash into middle stump. Little ended the tournament with 11 wickets, and became only the second bowler from Ireland to bag a hat-trick in T20Is after Curtis Campher’s four off four balls against Netherlands at last year’s T20 World Cup.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 185/6 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 61, Finn Allen 32; Joshua Little 3-22) beat Ireland 150/9 in 20 overs (Paul Stirling 37, Andrew Balbirnie 30; Lockie Ferguson 3-22, Mitchell Santner 2-26, Ish Sodhi 2-31) by 35 runs
(Cricinfo)
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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