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Latham, Mitchell fifties take NZ to tri-series title after bowlers restrict Pakistan
Despite injuries to Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears, Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand clinched the tri-series title in Karachi and sounded out a warning to the hosts, five days before they meet again in the Champions Trophy opener at the same venue. In the absence of the senior quicks, Will O’Rourke stepped up admirably with a four-wicket haul, while the spinners, led by Mitchell Santner, straight-jacketed Pakistan in the middle overs, limiting them to 242.
The batters then completed the demolition job on a two-paced surface, chasing the target with 28 balls and five wickets to spare. After Devon Conway and Kane Williamson set the platform with a 71-run partnership for the second wicket, Daryl Mitchell launched from there in the middle overs, befuddling Pakistan’s spinners with his variety of sweeps – including the reverse. He struck up an 87-run stand with Tom Latham, which highlighted New Zealand’s dominance in the middle overs, before Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips sealed the deal.
It was Phillips who had kicked off the tri-series with an unbeaten 106 off 74 balls, his maiden ODI century, against Pakistan, before Kane Williamson reminded the world of his genius with an unbeaten century of his own in New Zealand’s second game of the tri-series against South Africa. Having bagged ducks in those two games – and also against Sri Lanka in Auckland last month – Latham made a timely return to form, and re-established himself as New Zealand’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter with his 56 off 64 balls.
Latham had benefitted from multiple reprieves – he was dropped by Shaheen Shah Afridi off his own bowling on 15, and then by Saud Shakeel at square leg on 29. Earlier, when he was on 13, legspinner Abrar Ahmed pinged him on his pad and wasn’t given out lbw. Pakistan missed a trick by not going for a review, with ball-tracking indicating that it had pitched in line and would have crashed into the stumps.
Abrar, Pakistan’s specialist spinner, lacked penetration, and was taken for 67 in his ten overs. In stark contrast, New Zealand’s premier spinner Santner was unhittable, coming away with his most economical ten-over spell in ODI cricket. Forty of his 60 balls were dots as Santner varied his pace from the mid-70s kph range to mid-90s kph with remarkable control. Bracewell also kept things tight, finishing with 2 for 38 in his ten overs.
The first powerplay was a portent for Pakistan’s go-slow. They played out 48 dots in the powerplay, in which they managed 48 for 2, and failed to hit a high tempo through the innings. After taking a sequence of short balls away from Fakhar Zaman with his sharp angle from over the wicket, including two off-side wides, O’Rourke brought a fuller one back into the opener and had him chipping a catch to square leg for 10 off 15 balls.
Babar Azam then brought the Karachi crowd alive when he laced Jacob Duffy through the covers for four, and became joint fastest to 6000 ODI runs in his 123rd innings, alongside Hashim Amla. Nathan Smith, the seam-bowling allrounder, though spoiled the party when he had Babar spooning a return catch for 29 off 34 balls in his first over.
Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan needed 13 balls to get off the mark, and then four more balls to find the boundary. Salman Agha was more fluent at the other end, wedging the ball into the gaps as the pair forged an 88-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
The stand, however, ended when O’Rourke returned to the attack and had Rizwan chopping on with a cross-seamer, which stopped on him, for 46 off 76 balls. After hitting hard lengths and the splice of batters with high pace and bounce in the early exchanges, O’Rourke proved that he could be just as effective with the older ball. Almost five overs later, Bracewell had Agha miscuing a reverse sweep to short third to leave Pakistan at 161 for 5 in the 37th over.
Tayyab Tahir then gave the innings a leg-up with his 38 off 33 balls, but his innings was cut short by Duffy in the 42nd over. In the last eight overs, New Zealand conceded just four boundaries, keeping Pakistan to 242.
The new ball did a lot more under lights, with Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi using the swing and seam movement on offer to apply pressure on Conway and Williamson. In the first powerplay during the chase, the broadcaster put up a graphic showing the average swing achieved during the two innings. New Zealand’s seamers had generated 1.5 degrees of swing, and Pakistan’s 2.4 degrees.
The experienced pair of Conway and Williamson absorbed all of that pressure, and once the ball became older and softer, they picked away Pakistan’s spinners. Williamson carted Agha’s offspin over mid-off while Conway flayed Abrar and Khushdil Shah through the covers. When Williamson tried to pop Agha over the infield once again, he caused the ball to dip and turn to castle him for 34 off 49 balls. Conway then departed two short of his half-century, but the depth in skill in New Zealand’s middle order was too much to overcome for Pakistan.
New Zealand will be strengthened further by the potential return of Ravindra and Ferguson for the Champions Trophy opener on Wednesday.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 243 for 5 in 45.2 overs (Daryl Mitchell 57,Devon Conway 48, Tom Latham 56, Kane Williamson 34, Glenn Phillips 20*; Naseem Shah 2-43) beat Pakistan 242 in 49.3 overs (Barbar Azam 29, Mohammad Rizwan 46, Salman Agha 45, Tayyab Tahir 28, Faheem Ashraf 22 ; William O’Rourke 4-43, Mitchell Santner 2-20, Michael Bracewell 2-38) by five wickets
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka survived an early onslaught to qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup Super Eights, leaving Australia right at the exit door and hoping for a miracle.
The returning captain Mitchell Marsh and the returning-to-runs Travis Head were brutal in taking Australia to 104 in the first 50 legal deliveries, but some spectacular fielding and spin bowling helped Sri Lanka take 10 for 77 off the last 70 balls.
In front of a partying full house in Pallekele, Sri Lanka’s two most prolific batters, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis, brought out both the axe and paper cuts to slice through the chase. Nissanka, who had earlier dropped Glenn Maxwell and then dismissed him with a stunner, went on to score an unbeaten hundred and take Sri Lanka home with two overs to spare.
In the absence of Matheesha Pathirana, who walked off with a calf injury in his first over, their spinners contributed six wickets to go with excellent closing from Dushmantha Chameera. Australia’s lead spinner Adam Zampa, among the best T20 spinners of all time, took no wicket and was lucky to go for only 41 in his four overs.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 184/2 in 18 overs [Pathum Nissanka 100*, Kusal Mendis 51, Pavan Rathnayake 2*; Marcus Stoinis 2-41] beat Australia 181/10 in 20 overs [Mitchell Marsh 54, Travis Head 56, Josh Inglis 27, Glenn Maxwell 22; Dushmantha Chameera 2-56, Maheesh Theekshana 1-37, Dushan Hemantha 3-37, Dunith Wellalage 1-33, Kamindu Mendis 1-19] by eight wickets
[Cricinfo]
A win against Canada in their first T20I against them on Tuesday will firm up New Zealand’s spot in the Super Eight. This result will also knock out Canada; South Africa have already qualified for the next round from Group D with three wins in as many games.
New Zealand have faced Canada just three times in international cricket so far – each time in ODI World Cups. Their most recent meeting coming in the 2011 edition in Mumbai. They have won all three games and are poised to make it 4-0 against Canada in World Cups, despite the absence of Lockie Ferguson. The fast bowler has returned home for the birth of his first child and is expected to link up with the side ahead of the Super Eight. In Ferguson’s absence, Kyle Jamieson, who wasn’t even in the main squad in the first place, is set to make his T20 World Cup bow.
As for Canada, they had their moments against South Africa and UAE but they have failed to convert those into wins. On Friday in Delhi, they had UAE at 66 for 4 in the 13th over in a chase of 151, but they left the door ajar for Aryansh Sharma and Sohaib Khan to sneak home. Canada can’t afford such slip-ups against New Zealand – and then Afghanistan – if they are to notch up a win in this World Cup.
Kyle Jamieson doesn’t quite have Ferguson’s express pace, but can bang it away on a hard length and stifle the opposition batters. He also has some slower variations in his repertoire and his high-arm release could pose a big threat, especially to batters who are facing him for the first time.
Once known as “Vettori” in Canada’s club cricket circuit, Saad Bin Zafar will run into the team that was once captained by one of his heroes. The Canada left-arm spinner often attacks the stumps and keeps it tight, as his economy rate of 6.02 across 67 T20Is suggests. At 39, Saad knows he won’t be playing the game for long and will be eager to cause a few upsets on the big stage.
Jamieson is set to slot in for Ferguson unless New Zealand want to give veteran legspinner Ish Sodhi a game.
New Zealand (probable): Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner (capt), Jimmy Neesham, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy
Canada are likely to play the same XI that lost to South Africa and UAE.
Canada (probable): Dilpreet Bajwa (capt), Yuvraj Samra, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Harsh Thaker, Saad Bin Zafar, Jaskaran Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana left the field four balls into his first over, after collapsing to the ground clutching his left calf, and did not return to the field during Sri Lanka’s bowling innings against Australia. Having briefly received treatment from the Sri Lanka physiotherapist immediately after sustaining the injury, Pathirana hobbled off the field with assistance from support staff.
He then spent the majority of the innings being treated in the dressing room. Sri Lanka will likely send him off for scans as soon as the match finishes.
“Matheesha Pathirana experienced discomfort in his left leg calf while bowling during the match and was unable to continue,” a statement read. “He will not bowl further in this game. A scan will be conducted tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury.”
Pathirana had begun well against Australia, bowling two dot balls and giving away three runs (including a wide) in those first four deliveries. The last two balls of the over were delivered by Dasun Shanaka, who gave away a four and bowled a dot.
Pathirana is the quickest bowler in Sri Lanka’s attack, and a key part of their death-bowling plans for the tournament in particular. He is also the second Sri Lanka bowler to come under an injury cloud, with Wanindu Hasaranga already having been ruled out of the World Cup with a hamstring injury of his own.
After this game against Australa, Sri Lanka have another group match to play, against Zimbabwe. They have not earned qualification for the Super Eights yet.
(Cricinfo)
Nissanka ton stuns Australia, puts Sri Lanka in Super Eights
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