ew Zealand reached the World Cup quarter-finals Saturday in a nail-biting one-wicket win over Australia in an Eden Park classic which saw them almost suffer an embarrassing collapse in pursuit of just 152.
Sitting comfortably at 78-1, the Black Caps were crippled by sudden stage-fright as their next eight wickets fell for just 68 runs with 40,000 fans 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 Australian 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 fore 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.
“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.
– Amateurs –
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 later Saturday, 5,500km away, two worlds collide when mighty India tackle the United Arab Emirates’ team of shipping clerks and airline staff, with at least two of the Gulf amateurs relishing the showdown.
All-rounder Krishna Chandran and wicket-keeper Swapnil Patil were both born in India.
But frustrated by the pedestrian pace of their playing careers in the country’s over-crowded talent market, they decamped to the UAE to pursue jobs and cricket.
Chandran hails from Kerala and once featured for a Bangalore college club alongside Stuart Binny, a member of India’s squad at the World Cup.
Patil is another Indian expat and is looking forward to meeting up with star batsman Ajinkya Rahane after the pair played in a variety of youth teams in Mumbai before the keeper moved to Dubai.
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 have lost both their games, to Zimbabwe and Ireland, but only by four and two wickets respectively.
India’s in-form seamer Mohammad Shami, who took four for 35 against Pakistan and two for 30 against South Africa, will miss the game with a knee injury. -AFP
