Australia beat New Zealand by five runs in a pulsating, bat-dominated match in Dharamsala to put significant distance between the four leading teams in the World Cup table and the rest. Spurred by a 59-ball century from Travis Head on his return to the side after arriving at the tournament late because of a hand injury, Australia sealed the win only off the last scheduled ball.
New Zealand went into the last three overs needing 43 to overhaul Australia’s towering 388, but James Neesham kept them in the game with a 33-ball half-century, and it was only when he was run out for 58 going for a second run to keep the strike for the final ball that the outcome was effectively decided. Last man Lockie Ferguson came in needing to hit the last ball from Mitchell Starc for six but could only find a close fielder.
The first three weeks of competition produced few exciting finishes but this game followed hard on the heels of South Africa beating Pakistan by one wicket in Chennai. It produced the highest match aggregate in any World Cup match of 771 while its tally of 32 sixes (Australia 20, New Zealand 12) stands second only to the 33 hit when England and Afghanistan met at Old Trafford in 2019. That was in the days when England hit sixes.
Had New Zealand won, it would have been easily the highest successful chase in a World Cup match, beating Pakistan’s 345 against Sri Lanka three weeks ago.
The flying start Australia got from Head and David Warner, who scored 81 from 65 balls, of 175 in 19.1 overs was the real difference between the sides.
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They scored 118 in the ten overs of power-play and took full advantage of the short square boundaries to hit 13 sixes between them. Head’s 25-ball fifty was the fastest of the tournament.
Glenn Maxwell with 41 off 24 and Pat Cummins with 37 off 14 made sure Australia finished strongly – although they actually lost four wickets in eight balls at the end – but New Zealand were unfazed by the size of their chase and most of their players managed to strike at over 100.
Rachin Ravindra replicated his form against England with a stunning century off 77 balls and his departure in the 41st over, caught at long off from a Cummins cutter, was a big blow to his side’s chances.
Somehow amid all the carnage, Glenn Phillips took three for 37 from ten overs for New Zealand, but he missed out with the bat.
For those who believe in miracles, this result kept alive England’s mathematical chances of making the semi-finals. England can still reach ten points and New Zealand remain on eight with potentially losable games against South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to come. Were that to happen though, Sri Lanka would have six points with other fixtures remaining against Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh. But England must play well for such conjecture to have any meaning.
