RESULT
13th match (D/N), Taunton, June 08, 2019, ICC Cricket World Cup
(32.1/50 ov, T:173) 173/3

New Zealand won by 7 wickets (with 107 balls remaining)

Player Of The Match
5/31
james-neesham
New
NZ
Full commentary

Thank for joining us. Until next time, this is Shashank Kishore saying goodbye on behalf of Peter Della Penna. Don't forget to join us for the big one on Sunday: India v Australia from The Oval. It should be a corker of a contest. Cheers!

Kane Williamson: Outstanding win. They have a few world-class players, they got off to a very good start but we stuck to our plans, great to see the way the seamers came back. Lockie is a fast bowler, his role is to bowl fast. It doesn't need much encouragement to get him up. He's made a big difference because of the left-arm right-arm combination. Neesham was superb as well, there was pace and movement, and he used the conditions well. My form's been alright, just doing a job for the team. We've now chased three games in a row. Great to win every game you play, we've got a couple of days off, which the guys will look forward to before we play India in a few days time.

Gulbadin Naib: Batting let us down. We've a lot of work to do on the field. We need to improve day-by-day.

Jimmy Neesham is Player of the Match for his 5 for 31: "Obviously pretty pleased with how the ball came out today. Afghanistan put us under a lot of pressure at the start of the game but we knew if we kept pushing hard and putting the ball in the right areas that we'd be able to get through and obviously we did a pretty clinical job chasing. I just wanted to get back to what I do bowling and try to be consistent, hit the deck as much as possible and not worry about swinging the ball because that's not my forte."

The bigger news today though is the health status of Rashid Khan. He never took the field after he sustained a concussion on the ball that bowled him by Lockie Ferguson, ricocheting off the lid of his helmet onto the stumps. The silver lining for Afghanistan is they have six days off before their next match against South Africa next Saturday as both teams are still in search of their first win. That may be enough of a break in between games for Rashid to recover and resume his place as Afghanistan's strike bowler. It was always going to be an uphill battle defending 172 without him and so it proved. Afghanistan got off to a fabulous start, having reached 61 for 0 in the Powerplay after being sent in at the toss before Jimmy Neesham's spell dismantled their top order.

8.18 pm Captain Kane Williamson makes the most of a severely botched runout chance by Hashmatullah Shahidi at short midwicket when he was on 22 to end unbeaten on 79. New Zealand remain a perfect three for three to top the World Cup points table. Afghanistan now fighting to avoid the wooden spoon with three losses from their first three matches.

32.1
1
Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run

short on the legs, Williamson pulls to long leg to end the match. NZ win with 17.5 overs to spare.

end of over 324 runs
NZ: 172/3CRR: 5.37 RRR: 0.05
Tom Latham13 (18b 1x4)
Kane Williamson78 (98b 9x4)
Hamid Hassan 7-0-30-0
Aftab Alam 8-0-44-3
31.6
Hamid to Latham, no run

fullish length on off, Latham beaten driving. And it'll go into at least one more over now as well...

31.5
Hamid to Latham, no run

bouncer from Hamid, Latham ducks, barely legal on height. This match will go at least one more ball.

31.4
1
Hamid to Williamson, 1 run

short on off stump, tapped down to short third man. Scores level.

31.3
1
Hamid to Latham, 1 run

short and wide on sixth stump, guided to Zazai at third man.

31.2
1lb
Hamid to Williamson, 1 leg bye

good length on the legs, clipped off the pads along the ground wide of Alikhil behind the stumps.

31.1
1
Hamid to Latham, 1 run

waist high full toss angled into the body from around the stumps, worked to long leg, lucky not to be called a no ball.

One shot will do it for NZ.

end of over 316 runs
NZ: 168/3CRR: 5.41 RRR: 0.26
Tom Latham11 (14b 1x4)
Kane Williamson77 (96b 9x4)
Aftab Alam 8-0-44-3
Hamid Hassan 6-0-27-0
30.6
1
Aftab Alam to Latham, 1 run

short on off, pulled along the ground to deep square leg.

30.5
1
Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run

short of a length on fourth stump, runs it off the open face to third man.

30.4
1
Aftab Alam to Latham, 1 run

full and angled down leg side off the pads, gets some bat on it to flick to long leg.

Around the stumps to Latham.

30.3
1
Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run

fullish length on middle and off, leading edge by Williamson trying to work it through midwicket. The ball goes to backward point where it's misfielded to allow the run.

30.2
1
Aftab Alam to Latham, 1 run

short outside off, pulled along the ground to deep midwicket.

30.1
1
Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run

full and straying down leg, clipped to long leg.

Aftab comes back. Three overs left, has all three wickets.

end of over 307 runs
NZ: 162/3CRR: 5.40 RRR: 0.55
Tom Latham8 (11b 1x4)
Kane Williamson74 (93b 9x4)
Hamid Hassan 6-0-27-0
Gulbadin Naib 9-1-55-0
29.6
Hamid to Latham, no run

fullish length angled in from around the stumps on a fifth stump line drawn into a defensive poke, beaten outside off.

29.5
1
Hamid to Williamson, 1 run

short of a length on fifth stump, guided to third man.

29.4
Hamid to Williamson, no run

short of a length on off, goes back to defend.

29.3
1lb
Hamid to Latham, 1 leg bye

overpitched and angled down into the legs, misses a flick but it goes off the pads to deep fine leg.

Around the stumps to Latham.

29.2
1
Hamid to Williamson, 1 run

full on the legs, nudged behind square leg.

29.1
4
Hamid to Williamson, FOUR runs

overpitched on middle, whipped through midwicket and it skeets away.

Cheers Shanky. Hamid Hassan is back.

end of over 2912 runs
NZ: 155/3CRR: 5.34 RRR: 0.85
Kane Williamson68 (89b 8x4)
Tom Latham8 (9b 1x4)
Gulbadin Naib 9-1-55-0
Aftab Alam 7-0-38-3

That's that for me tonight. Over to Peter for whatever little is left of this chase. See you, folks.

28.6
1
Gulbadin to Williamson, 1 run

steered down to square third man

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ICC Cricket World Cup

TEAMMWLPTNRR
IND971150.809
AUS972140.868
ENG963121.152
NZ953110.175
PAK95311-0.430
SL9348-0.919
SA9357-0.030
BAN9357-0.410
WI9265-0.225
AFG9090-1.322