Phillips, Latham power New Zealand to win over Afghanistan

Aotearoa have won their fourth game of the Cricket World Cup, defeating Afghanistan by 149 runs in Chennai. Glenn Phillips, Will Young and Tom Latham all scored 50s in the victory before Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner and Lockie Ferguson powered New Zealand to victory with the ball. New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Devon Conway and Will Young were sent into bat by Afghanistan after they’d won the toss. The game started off relatively slowly for the Kiwi batters with them taking only singles from the first two overs. However, this also included Rahmat Shah dropping Will Young for one. From the third over onwards, the Kiwis decided to start attacking and were looking at around one boundary an over. After some successful shots by Conway, he found himself walking back to the pavilion for 20 from 18.

This brought Rachin Ravindra to the crease, Young and Ravindra were careful about seeing the powerplay overs through and they ended on 43/1 at the end of the first 10 overs. Taking 12 balls to get off the mark it seemed like Ravindra was going to take this knock calmly and slowly. The majority of the overs were going for 4/5 runs apart from when both Ravindra and Young hit a couple of sixes off Mohammad Nabi’s bowling. Unfortunately for the Kiwis, just when it looked like Ravindra and Young were getting set they lost a flurry of wickets. Ravindra was the first to go as he was bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai for 32 and then Young only lasted four more balls before he was caught behind. Just when it looked like Aotearoa’s luck couldn’t get any worse, Daryl Mitchell hit a catch straight to Ibrahim Zadran and gave Rashid Khan his first wicket of the day.

Fortunately for New Zealand, this meant that Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips were needed to build a strong partnership, the pair ending up putting on a 144-run partnership from 26 overs. Throughout their partnership, they played some great shots but did keep quiet early on to make sure they didn’t give away their wicket. At one stage in the partnership, it took them over 10 overs to find the boundary, clearly demonstrating their job was to get the team back in business. As the overs kept ticking by, Afghanistan were getting frustrated with not being able to break the partnership and this led to mistakes in the field. Phillips made his fifty from 69 balls, whilst it took Latham 67 balls.

After what seemed like an age for Afghanistan they finally broke the partnership in the 48th over, but they had just encountered Phillips and Latham getting aggressive in their shot. Phillips was removed by Naveen-ul-Haq for 71 and Latham was then out two balls later for 68.

Mark Chapman and Mitchell Santner were able to get the Kiwis to a respectable total of 288/76 from their fifty overs.

Needing to chase 289 from their fifty overs, Afghanistan got off to a good but careful start, having on;y 19 runs on the board in the first five overs. Matt Henry was the first to make the breakthrough as he bowled Rahmanulah Gurbaz for 11, before Trent Boult then had Zadran caught by Santner for 14, leaving Afghanistan sitting at 28/2 after 7 overs. Ending the powerplay on 28 runs gives a clear idea as to the Afghanistan batting plan.

Hashmutullah Shahidi came to the crease but was not able to contribute much and his side reeling at 43/3 after 14 overs.

A strongish partnership between Omarzai and Shah kept the team in the game, but not before Trent Boult could remove Omarzai for 27, with him having made Afghanistan’s second-highest score in the game.

From here the wickets kept falling for Afghanistan at regular intervals. Shah went for 36 from 92 and the score was already looking in tatters for Afghanistan.

The lower-order batters relied on Ikram Alikhil to score the runs. This idea didn’t last long as Afghanistan slipped from 125/6 to all out for 139. In this space of time, Nabi was bowled by Santner for 19. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman both fell victim to Lockie Ferguson. Santner managed to deal with the last two batters, Naveen-ul-Haq being the last man out for 0.

Afghanistan finished on 139/10 from 34.4 overs. Shah top scored with 36, whilst Santner and Ferguson took two wickets each.