Head, Ravindra hammer tons as Oz clinch thriller

Deepankar Sharda

Dharamsala, October 28

771 runs, 19 wickets, and the margin of victory just five runs — the fans at the highest venue in the World Cup could not have asked for more as five-time champions Australia pulled off a thrilling win against a determined New Zealand in an epic Trans-Tasman clash.

771 It is the highest aggregate for a World Cup match, bettering the 754 during the South Africa-Sri Lanka game earlier in this edition

383 New Zealand’s total is the highest in a chase at the World Cup. It is also the highest by any team against Australia at the World Cup

32 Sixes hit during the match — the second-most in a World Cup game, behind the 33 sixes between England and Afghanistan in Manchester in 2019

Riding a wave of three consecutive wins, Australia put up their second 350-plus total in a row thanks to the fireworks of the opening pair of Travis Head and David Warner. Having bowled out Netherlands for 90 while defending 399 in their last game, Australia would have been confident at the halfway stage that they had scored enough. But an inspired effort from young star Rachin Ravindra and half-centuries from Daryl Mitchell and James Neesham almost stole the game for New Zealand.

In his first game since returning from an injury layoff, Head made it rain boundaries (10) and sixes (7) as the opener hit 109 off 69 balls to build the platform for Australia’s massive total. Head, dropped twice, shared a 175-run stand with Warner (81 off 65). The duo smashed 118 runs in the first powerplay, which included 10 sixes — six by Warner and four by Head.

While the Aussies seemed to be on their way to the 400-mark, the Kiwis managed to restrict the side to 388. Glenn Maxwell (41 off 24), who scored a ton off just 40 balls in Australia’s last match, came up with a cameo as Josh Inglis (38 off 28) and captain Pat Cummins (37 off 14) also chipped in.

Ravindra turned out to be the man for the Kiwis in the chase. The left-hander scored 116 off 89 balls to give his team hope. But it was Neesham who almost took the game away from the Aussies. His 59 off 39 helped Kiwis stay in the match till the last over.

New Zealand needed 19 off the final over from Mitchell Starc, who went wicketless for the first time in his 24-match World Cup career. The pacer conceded a single off the first delivery before bowling a wide down the leg side which ran to the boundary. Needing 13 off 5, Neesham scored six runs of the next three deliveries before being run out. No. 11 Lockie Ferguson, having the job of hitting the final delivery for a six, drilled it straight to the cover fielder. “That was awesome,” Cummins said. “They kept coming at us. It was fantastic,” he added.

Australia’s better fielding made the difference as the Kiwis were guilty of spilling many catches. “Marnus out there, throwing himself around at the end. Not the easiest fielding grounds here but the boys threw themselves around. We have a few days’ break. Will enjoy this one and then get stuck in (for the next game),” Cummins said.