Kane Williamson’s return to action headlined New Zealand’s first official warmup match of the 2023 World Cup as they hit the right notes with the bat in a high-scoring game in Hyderabad. Mohammad Rizwan (103) and Babar Azam (80) provided a good platform and the middle order got amongst the runs to help Pakistan post 345. The total, however, proved insufficient as New Zealand, led by Rachin Ravindra’s 97 and three other half-century scores, including that of Williamson, pulled off the chase with 6.2 overs to spare.
After Devon Conway was dismissed by Hasan Ali for a golden duck, Ravindra and Williamson got together and added 179 runs in just 22 overs to power New Zealand’s chase. Williamson decided to retire after crossing fifty while Ravindra was dismissed by Agha Salman before he could get a ton. Usama Mir then picked up the wickets of Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in quick succession but fifties from Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell, and an important 33 from James Neesham, helped New Zealand over the line in the 44th over.
Earlier, After opting to bat, Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq in the second over to Matt Henry while Mitch Santner had Abdullah Shafique out stumped. Babar, who started watchfully, found his groove while Rizwan also scored at a steady rate as they raised a century partnership to set things up nicely for Pakistan. Babar, however, missed a hundred while Rizwan retired after reaching three figures, giving Pakistan’s lower middle order some time out in the middle. Saud Shakeel (75) and Agha Salman (33*) came up with handy contributions to propel Pakistan past 340.
Brief scores: Pakistan 345/5 in 50 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 103, Babar Azam 80; Mitch Santner 2-39) lost to New Zealand 346/5 in 43.4 overs (Rachin Ravindra 97, Mark Chapman 65; Usama Mir 2-68) by 5 wickets.
Bangladesh started their final round of preparations of the 2023 World Cup with a clinical seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the warm-up fixture at Guwahati on Friday (September 29). A disciplined bowling effort from Bangladesh helped them to restrict their opponents to a below-par total on what was a typically good batting strip. Young Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan then made short work of the chase with a professional batting performance.
Earlier in the afternoon, Sri Lanka won a handy toss but couldn’t make the optimum use of the batting conditions on offer. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera got off to a brisk start with the latter being the aggressor. However, a continuing discomfort in the shoulder forced Perera to retire hurt. Nissanka and Kusal Mendis kept the impetus going but once the partnership was broken, Sri Lanka lost their way. Lot of their batters got starts without failing to kick on. A laborious fifty from Dhananjaya de Silva along with some lower order support is what enabled Sri Lanka to post a respective, even if underwhelming total.
Mahedi Hasan was the standout bowler for Bangladesh while his more popular namesake Mehidy bowled a tidy spell as well. The latter then came in at no.3 to produce a crafty unbeaten fifty to see the side home after the opening pair of Tanzid and Liton had put on a chanceless 131-run stand to strengthen Bangladesh’s advantage. The surface appeared to have gotten better under lights and chasing a not-so-threatening score meant that the result was a foregone conclusion. Point to note is that Mustafizur Rahman for Bangladesh and Maheesh Theekshana for Sri Lanka didn’t bowl while Shakib Al Hasan and Najmul Shanto were the others who were absent for this clash.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 263/9 in 49.1 overs (Pathum Nissanka 68, Dhananjaya de Silva 55; Mahedi Hasan 3-36) lost to Bangladesh 264/3 in 42 overs (Tanzid Hasan 84, Mehidy Hasan 67*, Litton Das 61) by 7 wickets
South Africa vs Afghanistan, Thiruvananthapuram
Incessant rains meant that the warm-up game between South Africa and Afghanistan at Greenfield Stadium, Trivandrum got abandoned without even the toss being held.
