New Zealand reached the World Cup quarter-finals with a nail-bitingone-wicket win over Australia in Auckland on Saturday while, 5,500km away in Perth.
New Zealand carved out a fourth win in four games in Pool A but, in pursuit of just 152 and sitting comfortably at 78 for one, the Black Caps were crippled by sudden stage-fright as their next eight wickets fell for just 68 runs with 40,000 fans at Eden Park on the edge of their seats.
But Kane Williamson (45 not out) smashed the winning runs with a mighty six off Pat Cummins from the first ball of the 24th over, having watched helplessly as Australia left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc wreaked havoc with a career-best six for 28.New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum had hit a 21-ball fifty at the top of the innings as the home side cruised towards their total, and even at 131 for four they were still in pole position.
But the slide started with Glenn Maxwell dismissing Corey Anderson for 26.
Starc then took the wickets of Luke Ronchi (six), Daniel Vettori (two), Adam Milne (0) and Tim Southee (0) to give Australia a sniff of an unexpected win before Williamson held his nerve.
Earlier, Trent Boult claimed career-best figures of five for 27 as New Zealand dismissed the four-time champions for just 151.
From 80 for one, Australia lost eight wickets for 26 runs before Brad Haddin (43) and Cummins (seven not out) put on 45 for the last wicket.
“Trent Boult was outstanding for us, and so was Mitchell Starc for
Australia,” said McCullum.
“Some of the batting wasn’t as good as it should have been but that can happen when you are up against high-class seam bowling.”
Australia captain Michael Clarke, back in the team for the first time since December after a hamstring injury, said the batting had let his side down.
– ‘Horrendous batting’ –
“It was horrendous,” he said. “The tension was there all game. It was very entertaining and we would have liked the result to go the other way but credit to New Zealand.”
Left-arm seamer Boult’s five wickets came in the space of 18 balls for just one run as New Zealand condemned Australia to their second-lowest World Cup total.
Southee took two for 65 while left-arm spinner Vettori finished with two for 41 as New Zealand’s bowling maintained the same momentum which helped them dismiss England for 123 in Wellington.
Australia, who beat England in their opener two weeks ago before seeing the clash with Bangladesh rained off in Brisbane, are now fourth in the pool with three points, five behind New Zealand, with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also ahead of them.
The top four in each pool qualify for the quarter-finals. At the WACA in Perth, defending champions India were on course for a third win in three matches when they bowled out the airline workers, shipping clerks and bankers of part-timersUAE for just 102 in Pool B.
The UAE lasted just 31.3 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat, recording the lowest World Cup score against India. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin returned his best one-day figures of four for 25 off 10 overs on a pitch that traditionally favours fast bowlers.
Shaiman Anwar, who became the first UAE player to make a century in a World Cup against Ireland last time out, again top-scored with 35 while also helping take his team past the three-figure mark in a 31-run, 10th wicket partnership with Manjula Guruge.
India have been in rampant form so far, beating Pakistan by 76 runs and then trouncing South Africa by 130 runs in games where they racked up two 300-plus totals.
The UAE had lost both their previous games, to Zimbabwe and Ireland, but only by four and two wickets respectively.- BSS/AFP
