With a good win over Scotland, New Zealand earned two vital Super 12 points. Scotland, too, applied themselves better than they did in the first two Super 12 matches. As a result, New Zealand joins Afghanistan in Group 2 with four points, setting up a fascinating matchup between the two teams on Sunday. It’ll be interesting to see who qualifies for the semi-finals in Group 2 after India defeated Afghanistan in the second encounter of the day.
Sharif rescues Scotland
Sharif came to Scotland’s rescue with the first ball of his second over, trapping Daryl Mitchell on the back pad with a delivery that appeared to be a little too high at first glance. Mitchell reviewed the decision after Ahsan Raza raised his finger, but ball-tracking showed the ball touching the bails, thus the verdict was affirmed. After Kane Williamson followed a delivery down the leg side, Matthew Cross grabbed a diving catch to his left and Williamson walked, Sharif secured one of his career’s golden wickets.
The Martin Guptill show
Guptill played a key role in anchoring and then accelerating New Zealand’s innings, earning multiple accolades along the way. When he sent an Alasdair Evans leg-stump half-volley over backward square leg for six, he became the second batter to reach 3000 T20I runs. Only Virat Kohli has more T20I runs than Guptill, and Guptill is only 156 runs behind him. When he slog-swept Chris Greaves into the top tier of the stands, he became the batter with the most sixes in this format. Guptill and Phillips enjoyed a 105-run stand that was the backbone of New Zealand’s total.
A dicey run chase for Scotland
Until the last over, New Zealand was uncertain of victory. If only the bowling changes after Conway’s dismissal had been better, if only they’d done a better job of pacing the chase, if only those goodies didn’t come with strings attached, the outcome of this game could have been different. After Coetzer got them off to a rapid start, Munsey’s dismissal was the turning moment. Leask gave it his all, but the rest of the team couldn’t adjust to the pitch or the bowling. Boult, Southee, and Santner were all outstanding, but Milne will be a point of concern for New Zealand.