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New Zealand has picked up a second victory at the T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket win against Papua New Guinea.
The toss in Trinidad and Tobago was delayed by an hour, and play got underway over an hour and a half after it was supposed to.
There was early success for the New Zealanders who had won the toss and elected to bowl first with Tim Southee getting opener Tony Ura to skew one high to Glenn Phillips at backward point for one.
Boundaries to Charles Amini and Assad Vala showed that there was some fight from the PNG batters, this changed once speedster Lockie Ferguson was brought into the attack.
Ferguson had a wicket on the first ball of his spell with Vala edging to Daryl Mitchell at slip for six. Sese Bau could not score off the next five deliveries, it was the start of one of the most incredible bowling performances in T20 World Cup history.
Bau and Amini put on the strongest partnership of the game for PNG with a 27-run stand for the third wicket to take them to 43/3 when Ferguson managed to trap Amini's leg before wicket for 17.
PNG quickly fell to 43/5 as Bau went to Santner for 12 and Chad Soper was bowled in Ferguson’s final over for one. Ferguson ended his four overs without conceding a run, the first time it has been done in Men’s T20 World Cup history.
Hiri Hiri and Kiplin Doriga did rebuild the innings following Soper’s wicket, but once they both departed for seven and five respectively, PNG found themselves on the ropes again.
Having picked up Hiri in his final T20 World Cup game, Boult managed to grab a second wicket in his final over with Norman Vanua sending the ball to Daryl Mitchell at midwicket for 14.
Ish Sodhi got two wickets in the final over with Alei Nao falling for three and Kabua Morea being stumped by Devon Conway for a duck.
PNG finished on 78 all out from 19.4 overs, leaving New Zealand a target of 79.
New Zealad’s reply started poorly with Morea getting a wicket on the second ball of the innings as Finn Allen edged behind to Doriga for a two-ball duck.
Rachin Ravindra and Conway provided some resistance to ensure that the Kiwis were able to get their innings back in the right direction with a 20-run stand before Morea picked up Ravindra for six.
The Kiwi’s highest partnership of the tournament came between Conway and captain Kane Williamson as they added 34 runs for the third wicket.
Whilst PNG did get one more wicket with Semo Kamea striking Conway leg before for 35, Williamson and Mitchell finished the job off with the final 25 runs added in three overs to ensure a victory for New Zealand.
A seven-wicket win by the Kiwis means that they finish the group in third place but not enough to make the Super 8’s. PNG’s defeat means that they go home without a victory.
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