Cricket ODI World Cup 2023

'600 balls ka proper thriller tha' - Fans thrilled after Australia hold nerves to beat New Zealand by 5 runs in last-ball thriller of ODI World Cup 2023

New Zealand faced a second defeat in the sixth match of their ODI World Cup 2023 campaign after winning four consecutive matches. It is also a second successive defeat for them.

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Mathew K
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Australia vs New Zealand, ODI World Cup 2023 (File Photo, Twitter)

Australia vs New Zealand, ODI World Cup 2023 (File Photo, Twitter)

Australia and New Zealand locked horns in a high-scoring thriller till the last ball to produce a perfect and exciting match for cricket. Both teams locked horns in the 27th match of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday. The Kiwi skipper Tom Latham won the toss and asked the Aussies to bat first.

Batting first, Australia got a swashbuckling and mammoth start of 175 runs for the wicket by the blistering opening pair of David Warner and Travis Head. Warner scored 81 runs off just 65 balls, hitting 5 fours and 6 sixes. Other than him, the comeback guy Travis Head amused everyone with his sensational century, scoring 109 runs off just 67 balls, smashing 10 fours and 7 sixes over the boundary line.

Other than these two, the Australian team also got some quick knocks in the lower middle order, including the skipper, Pat Cummins. Glenn Maxwell scored 41 runs off just 24 balls; on the other hand, skipper Cummins smashed 37 runs off just 14 balls with 2 fours and 4 massive sixes.

On the back of these amazing contributions, the five-time champions managed to post a massive total of 388 runs, losing all the wickets in 49.2 overs. Trent Boult and Glenn Phillips scalped three wickets each for New Zealand, alongside two wickets picked by Mitchell Santner. Apart from this, Matt Henry and James Neesham also claimed one wicket each.

Rachin Ravindra and a late show from Neesham produce an 'edge of the seat' thriller.

Later, the Blackcaps showed amazing intent while chasing the target; they got a good start of 61 runs for the first wicket in just 7.2 overs by openers, Devon Conway and Will Young. Then came a well-fought and brilliant century scored by the young batting sensation Rachin Ravindra, who scored 116 runs off just 89 balls, hitting 9 fours and 5 sixes. He also stitched a brilliant partnership of 96 runs for the third wicket with Daryl Mitchell (54 runs, 6 fours and a six). 

Later in the end, James Neesham came up with a thrilling knock of 58 runs off 39 balls, hitting 3 fours and 3 sixes to keep pushing Australia away from the win. But eventually, the efforts of Ravindra, Mitchell, and Neesham went in vain and Australia won the match by a close margin of 5 runs as New Zealand could score 383 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the entire 50 overs.

Here’s how fans reacted to the high-scoring thriller between Australia and New Zealand:

 

 

ODI World Cup 2023 Featured James Neesham Australia vs New Zealand