Adelaide [Australia], November 4 (ANI): Captain Kane Williamson found his form at the Adelaide Oval to guide New Zealand to 185/6 against Ireland in the Super-12 encounter at the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Despite Joshua Little’s maiden hat trick, the black caps managed to post a challenging total with the help of Williamson and Daryl Mitchell’s superb knocks.
Put in to bat by Ireland, the Blackcaps started cautiously with both openers Devon Conway and Finn Allen scoring just 16 runs off the first three overs. However, Allen broke the shackles in the fourth over as he smashed three boundaries to Gareth Delany to inject momentum into the Kiwi innings.
The batter stuck to his aggressive approach and hit Mark Adair for two boundaries and a six before Adair had the last laugh. The bowler dismissed Allen on the last ball of the over to draw first blood for Ireland.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson walked onto the crease to join Conway who looked sluggish on a belter of a pitch.
The batting duo refrained from playing rash shorts and looked to place the ball in the gaps to keep the scoreboard ticking and took the team to 75/1 at the halfway mark.
Kiwi innings saw a change in approach from Williamson and Conway as they hit Fionn Hand for a six and two boundaries in the 11th over.
The next over however saw Conway playing a slog sweep which did not clear the ropes and was grabbed by Adair to end the batter’s scratchy inning.
Explosive batter Glenn Phillips blasted a six on his second ball to start his inning. The batter hit two more boundaries in his brief stay before being dismissed in the 14th over.
Right-hander Daryl Mitchell joined Williamson at the crease as the skipper turned on his beast mode to rip apart the Irish bowlers.
The captain struck three boundaries and two sixes during overs 14 and 18 to provide much-needed impetus to the Kiwi inning. He played a superb knock of 61(35) before becoming the first wicket for Joshua Little.
Pacer Joshua then picked up two consecutive wickets to clinch Ireland’s second hat-trick of the T20 World Cup. He dismissed James Neesham and Mitchell Santner on the third and fourth delivery of the 19th over to complete his hat-trick.
Irish bowlers pulled things back at the fag end of the inning as they conceded just 12 runs off the final two overs to restrict New Zealand to 185-6.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 185/6 (Kane Williamson 61, Daryl Mitchell; Joshua Little 3-22) vs Ireland (ANI)
This report is filed by ANI news service. TheNewsMill holds no responsibility for this content.
