Australia vs New Zealand, World Cup 2023: Australia clinch high-scoring thriller to make it 4 wins in a row

A century from Rachin Ravindra and a rapid cameo from Jimmy Neesham went in vain as New Zealand lost their second match in the ODI World Cup 2023.

Chasing, a record target of 389 runs at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday, 28 October, New Zealand lost by a margin of 5 runs in what turned out to be an absolute runfest.

ICC ODI World Cup 2023

Fans had rued the lack of thrillers in the ongoing edition of the ODI World Cup 2023, but they seem to be gone, now that the tournament has dished up two thrillers in back-to-back matchdays. After South Africa’s final wicket win against Pakistan in Chennai on Friday, 27 October, the match in Dharamsala went right down to the wire with New Zealand needing 32 off the final 12 balls.

A six and a four from Neesham brought down the equation to 19 off the final 6 and that is when all hell broke loose to offer some sensational drama for the crowd. But more on that later.

In front of a packed crowd, New Zealand put in a remarkably calculated chase. Despite a mammoth total of 389, Devon Conway helped New Zealand get off the blocks in the powerplay with a quick 28 off 17 balls. Conway was not able to convert his start, but the onus was taken on by the young Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell.

The duo added 96 off 86 balls and stabilised the New Zealand innings after they lost both openers in the first powerplay in the second innings. Mitchell scored another crucial half century (54 off 51) but was trapped by Adam Zampa against the run of the play.

Ravindra’s Century
Ravindra kept the New Zealand innings alive single-handedly in the middle overs of the match, hitting a 77-ball hundred. Ravindra hit 5 sixes and 9 boundaries in the match and got out in the 41st over after hitting 116 off 89 balls. At the time when Ravindra got out, New Zealand still had almost 100 runs to win and Australia would have thought that they had the game in the bag.

However, that turned out to be far from true as Jimmy Neesham used all of his experience to play an immense cameo off 58 off 39 balls entirely with the tail.

Final Over Thriller
The final over of the match saw a proper meltdown from Mitchell Starc. After a single from Trent Boult in the first ball, Starc bowled 5-wides down the leg side. Shots from Jimmy Neesham did not reach the boundary, but New Zealand picked up crucial 6 runs in the next three balls. With the equation coming down to 7 runs from the final 2 balls, Neesham once again pushed for 2 runs after hitting the ball to mid-wicket. This time, however, the gas had run out, and a big booming drive failed to save him at the striker’s end from a run out. Starc, defending 6 from the final ball, bowled a dot ball and Australia breathed a sigh of relief.

Zampa Shines

One has to credit Adam Zampa for not letting New Zealand run away with the chase in the middle overs of the game. Zampa, while he was expensive, picked up wickets whenever he was called up by his captain.

First, in the 24th over, he lured Daryl Mitchell into a big hit and got his wicket. Losing Mitchell, a player with demonstrated history of playing spin hurt New Zealand in the middle overs. In the 32nd over, Zampa removed New Zealand captain To Latham, who had finally started to get going in his innings and later in the 44th over, Zampa took the important wicket of Mitchell Santner who had already started playing the big shots.

All of Zampa’s wickets came off brave bowling – floating it up to the batters and asking them to hit it. The three wickets today took Zampa’s tally to 16 in the tournament, the highest among all bowlers after 6 matches played.

Strong Start
Earlier in the match, Australia got off to a flier in Dharamsala after being sent to bat first. With no grass on the pitch, New Zealand pacers did not find any seam or swing in the powerplay and that allowed David Warner and Travis Head to cut loose early in the game.

One would have hoped that Travis Head, returning from a fracture would be in two minds at the start of his innings. However, New Zealand learnt the hard way that it was not going to be the case as two huge sixes off Matt Henry’s two no balls in the first powerplay, set the base for Head to dominate throughout his innings.

The opening duo added 175 runs for the first wicket inside the first 20 overs and set Australia for huge total very early in the game. Warner was the first to depart, due to a momentary hesitation against Glenn Phillips. The left hander, well set for his third century in a row, tried to walk down the pitch against the spinner. Warner was put in two minds to go full blast or check his shot and in that confusion handed Phillips his catch.

Middle Order Slump

Travis Head completed his century after Warner’s departure but was not able to continue his innings long after that. After his wicket in the 24th over, Australia suffered a slump as Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne once again failed to continue the momentum. Smith (18 off 17) fell to Glenn Phillips while trying to chip the spinner over mid-off, while Marnus Labuschagne once again found mid-wicket in what is turning out to be a familiar dismissal for him despite looking set for the better part of the innings.

Australia did not look like they were in a spot of bother as the wickets fell till the 40th over, but it seemed as if the sting had been taken away from their innings. However, strong lower-order contributions kept things from falling apart and Australia were able to take the momentum with them in the second half of the innings.

Cummins-Maxwell Carnage
The final 10 overs of the match saw some very important cameos from Glenn Maxwell and captain Pat Cummins. Maxwell, who just recorded the fastest century in the World Cup history, looked in ominous touch once again. A six that hit the roof of the stadium was one of the standout moments in the game as the pacer dominated proceedings in the first half of the final 10 overs. The cameo ended in the 45th over, but by that time, Maxwell had already hit 41 off 24 balls to hand Australia the momentum back once again.

Cummins carried forward the same, and hit four huge sixes in his cameo of 37 off just 14 balls, striking at 264 strike rate. This helped Australia post a mammoth total of 388, their highest against New Zealand in ODI format, which they would later defend by 5 runs.