Co-hosts win big matches
Print Edition
NEW Zealand and Australia played inconsiderate co-hosts at the Cricket World Cup yesterday, something they’ve been doing for pretty much the entire tournament.
New Zealand remained the class team, winning its fifth consecutive match following a six-wicket victory over a travel-weary Afghanistan in Napier.
Daniel Vettori passed 300 wickets in one-day internationals as Afghanistan was bowled out for 186 — the fourth time in five matches that New Zealand has kept an opponent under 200 runs. New Zealand will finish first in Pool A.
Australia, playing in Sydney, moved into second place in the group with a 64-run win over Sri Lanka in a result that should mean the four-time champion avoids a detour to New Zealand during the knockout stages. The Australians have lost just one match — to New Zealand by one wicket in Auckland.
Man-of-the-match Glenn Maxwell scored his first ODI hundred and Shane Watson posted a career-reviving 67 in a 160-run stand after Steven Smith (72) and Michael Clarke (68) shared a 134-run third-wicket partnership to steer Australia to 376-9, the highest total against Sri Lanka at the World Cup.
“It’s a big relief ... to get it out of the way,” said Maxwell, who scored 11 half-centuries in his previous 44 ODIs.
The Sri Lankans chased strongly but ultimately in vain after losing Lahiru Thirimanne (1), with Kumar Sangakkara (104) scoring his third consecutive hundred and surpassing 14,000 career runs in ODIs and sharing a 130-run partnership with Tillakaratne Dilshan (62).
In Napier, the 36-year-old left-arm spinner Vettori only needed two wickets to reach the 300 mark but went better with a haul of 4-18 from his 10 overs.
“In any form of the game you can play well and not take wickets and vice-versa,” Vettori said. “(I was) just trying to fulfil that role of being as economical as possible and the wickets came today.”
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