tossed up outside off, and that is that. Anderson stretches out and swipes it away powerfully through midwicket
New Zealand vs Afghanistan, 31st Match, Pool A at Napier, Mar 08 2015 - Ball by Ball Commentary
New Zealand won by 6 wickets (with 83 balls remaining)
6.15pm Alrighty then. Hope you've enjoyed our coverage. If you're looking to pop over to our commentary from the Australia-Sri Lanka game, you just need to click here. I'm off for the day, so ta ta until next time.
Mangesh: "Afghans are the first in this WC to restrict the NZ run rate under 6, which was not possible even for the 'big 3' in the group. Hats off to their fighting spirit! Well played!"
Phil: "Black Caps issue is they've only batted for 150 overs in 5 games. Really not a good practice for the tougher matches still to come."
Manikandan KP: "I like this score card 57, 42, 33, 24, 19, 7 ... Complete this series" I have no idea. Anyone else?
Brendon McCullum: "The way we bowled early on, 60 for 6, credit to Afghanistan for posting a total that was a little bit tricky for us. We got the ends wrong, and obviously it's great when you have a guy like Dan who can jump in and get a wicket and help the guys switch ends. Fielding could go up a gear, but I thought overall a good performance. We can improve, but overall not a bad chase, not a bad win for us. Special cricketer, what he's achieved in all three forms of the game for close to two decades. It's great to have him back, he's a very special member of our team and will continue to be so over the next few games. Wouldn't swap Boult and Southee for anyone [Twitter question - would you swap them for Wasim Akram/Aquib Javed who won the 92 World Cup]."
Mohammad Nabi: Good toss to win but we needed to score 280. The way New Zealand bowled, especially Vettori, they bowled very well. The top five batsmen, entire tournament, haven't done well. Hopefully we'll try in the next game. Shenwari has played well in the whole tournament, and a good start for Najibullah. We tried our best to take the match as long as possible."
Dan Vettori is the man of the match. "[The pitch was] probably a touch slower today, and once we got a good start from the fast bowlers I could back it up. A little bit more worn than usual, usually it's more pristine. Pretty used to bowling early on, you play so much T20 cricket, and sometimes the newer ball skids on. It's a lot of fun, playing the World Cup at home, an experience none of us will forget. So far so good.
6.03pm New Zealand have made it five out of five. Afghanistan were never going to win this from 59 for 6, but they kept fighting, with bat and ball, and never made it easy for their opponents. Slightly unconvincing display from New Zealand's batsmen, I'm not sure they've all really hit form yet, but Guptill and Taylor will be pleased they spent a good amount of time at the wicket.
bouncer outside off, left alone
full, down the leg side, poor ball, glanced away to the left of the diving wicketkeeper
fullish outside off, doesn't quite come on. Wants to drive through cover initially, adjusts and uses his wrists to tuck it into the leg side, towards short midwicket
yorker on off stump, poked back to the bowler
low full-toss outside off, driven to sweeper cover
full-toss on leg stump, blocked to short midwicket
Batting powerplay. Dawlat Zadran comes on.
short outside off, cut away towards deep point
full on off stump, whipped to short midwicket
length ball turning towards middle stump. Taylor jams his bat down to defend, goes off the inside edge into the leg side
shortish, a bit of width, slapped away to the left of sweeper cover
flatter now, a bit round-arm, angling in towards middle stump, defended into the on side
tossed up on off stump, blocked to short extra cover
around the wicket to Anderson
full outside off, jabbed to short cover
Dave: "Taylor always looks to me like he has just been woken up from his nap. Even when in form his starts are a bit lazy. Compare him to Elliott who is busy right from the get go." -- Could have been a bit busier running that single :)
Here's Corey Anderson.
Is that another run-out? Full outside off, driven to mid-off, and the fielder, Nabi, hits the stumps direct at the bowler's end, and, as replays confirm, Elliott is short of his crease. He hit it too firmly for that to be a comfortable single. OUT, says the big screen.
shuffles across a long way to this full ball outside off, defends it back to the bowler
a bit of width, not too short, Taylor cuts it hard into the ground and it bounces over the leaping backward point fielder, who gets a hand to it to slow it down
length ball angling into off stump, defended to short cover
shortish outside off, slapped towards point
Animesh: "So he's the Kiwi Rohit Sharma. Or Rohit is the Indian Ross Taylor. Neither is a very happy thought though." -- No, no. Rohit Sharma comes in, looks like the same lazily elegant batsman all the time, and maybe his scores are a little inconsistent. Taylor's scores are fairly consistent, but sometimes he looks like an amazingly gifted batsman and sometimes he scratches around horribly