Pakistan in shock win over New Zealand
ICC Men’s World Cup at Edgbaston, Birmingham
New Zealand Vs Pakistan
New Zealand 237-6 (50 ov) Neesham 97* off 112, 5 fours, 2 sixes, de Grandhomme 64 off 71, 6 fours, 1 six, Williamson 41 off 69, 4 fours, Shaheen 3-28, Shadab 1-43, Amir 1-67
Pakistan 241-4 (49.1 ov) Babar 101* off 127, 11 fours, Haris 68 off 76, 5 fous, 2 sixes, Boult 1-48, Ferguson 1-50, Williamson 1-39
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat
Pakistan won by six wickets
Pakistan kept their hopes of a World Cup Semi-final place alive as they beat New Zealand by six wickets and moved within one point of England.
Babar Azam’s 101 saw Pakistan home at Edgbaston after Shaheen Afridi had ripped through New Zealand’s top order.
Black caps were in dire straits at 83-5 when Williamson (41) edged Shadab behind but with the help of a 132-run partnership with Jimmy Neesham 97 not out and De Grandhomme 64 recovered to 237 for6.
Jimmy Neesham’s unbeaten 97 had given New Zealand a chance and glimmer of hope on a slow pitch. But Pakistan’s win with five balls to spare leaves England in more danger.
Only wins against New Zealand and India in their final two group games will ensure England a semi-final place.
If New Zealand had won this match they could have joined Australia in confirming a top-four finish but now they too have to work to do after a first defeat of the tournament.
Pakistan thrashed by rivals India and crushed by West Indies and sunk by a collapse against Australia looked to be out of contention. But wins against Afghanistan at Headingly on Saturday and Bangladesh at Lord’s on 5 July could see them into the last four – as this victory lifted their chances from 20 per cent to 36 per cent.
Captain Kane Williamson who was responsible for partnership breaker striking in his first over in 13 ODIs as Mohammad ~Hafeez holed out to deep midwicket.
Babar brought up his 10th ODI century from 124 balls his first hundred in a successful chase with able support from Haris 68 who was run out in the penultimate over and captain Sarfarz Ahmed hit the first ball of the final over for four to seal a famous win.
Earlier Pakistan’s bowlers were magnificent as they reduced Ne wZealand to 83-5 in the 27th over. Shahaeen, 19, took key wickets of Colin Munro, Ross Taylor and Tom Latham, an strangled the scoring rate, going for just two runs from 25 deliveries at one stage New Zealand went 13 overs and mor than an hour without a boundary.The Black caps only scored 20 runs between overs 10 and 20, and once Williamson edged the leg-spin of Shadab Khan behind, Colin de Grandhomme and Neesham played and missed with alarming regularity at the start of his innings and stuck around long enough for a remarkable recover with a 132-run partnership.
Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed said “Whenever we are in a corner we play out best, it was a great team effort. All the bowlers bowled well and there was some of the finest batting I have ever seen. Babar played on the best inning I have ever seen and they handled pressure very well.”
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said “ The surfaces in the last three games have been difficult and we were outplayed on a tough surface by a strong side. There was more bounce than we expected, and they put the ball in the right areas. The fight we showed in the back end was outstanding and we were in a competitive position. We were right in it but their batsmen played beautifully well and took the game away from us.”