Match 37: Allround New Zealand beats Ireland & favourites to top Group 1
New Zealand set themselves in the best situation to top Group 1 and everything except made certain about the first of the four semifinalists berth with their convincing 35-run triumph over Ireland in their last league game in Adelaide on Friday. Kane Williamson drove the way with a attacking 61 to establish the vibe for New Zealand's match-winning total of 185/6 regardless of Joshua Little's penultimate-over hat-trick Irish openers Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie offered a spirited beginning to the tall chase, yet Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi turned it around marvelously after expensive first overs to hold them to 150/9 in answer.
Allen sets the beat in powerplay
After spending half their powerplay getting their eye in on a fresh, drop-in pitch, Finn Allen got New Zealand moving with three boundaries in an over on one or the other side of the strip to welcome legspinner Gareth Delany into the attack. He then took on Mark Adair, strolling across the stumps and swivel-pulling him over short fine and afterward sending off one down the ground. Allen perished the very next ball attempting to push the attack going, yet his 18-ball appearance of 32 set New Zealand up pleasantly.
Wiliamson takes charge
The Kiwi captain had been copping quite a bit of flak in the lead-up for his indifferent form and conservative strike-rate. The run-a-ball 40 in a gigantic chase against England did no decent by the same token. Given such strain, Williamson's 35-ball 61 in Adelaide was worth its weight in gold. New Zealand gathered 98 in the eight overs since the drinks break, and Williamson contributed almost 50% of those (47) enroute a 32-ball half-century. At the point when New Zealand were hoping to speed up, he took the attack to Fion Hand in the eleventh over with a six and four. At the point when Ireland hit back with the wickets of Conway and Glenn Phillips one after another, after their brief cameos, Williamson pursued McCarthy in the eighteenth with two hits for maximum to deep midwicket stands and a third-man boundary in between between, taking a sum of 21 off it.
Little restricts some damage
Not that 185 proved any less, but Ireland were staring at a very real possibility of chasing 200-plus if not for some brilliant damage control at the fag end from the man in form, Little. The pacer's hat-trick was only the second of this edition, after UAE's Karthik Meiyappan. The three wickets he grabbed - a well-set Williamson and the dangerous Jimmy Neesham and Mitch Santner - were all capable of maximising the last dozen balls remaining in New Zealand's innings to bury Ireland under the infamous scoreboard pressure. Little had Williamson pulling straight to the deep fielder and then trapped the two allrounders LBW who both burnt a review each on their way back but couldn't prevent Little from becoming the sixth bowler with a T20 World Cup hat-trick to his name.
Stirling, Balbirnie take on the spinners
Santner (2-26) and Sodhi's (2-31) match figures don't recount to the total story, regardless of whether it conveys the right one. It was with the introduction of spin from the both ends after the powerplay that Stirling and Balbirnie had turned a modest beginning of 39/0 to a strong foundation of 68/0 in about 12 balls. Santner released 13 in his opening over including a six and a four, and Sodhi offered 16 with two maximums - Stirling and Balbirnie causing the harm separately.
Spin duo turn the tables on Ireland
Both Santner and Sodhi immediately corrected their mistakes, and dialed back their deliveries to cause some serious problems for even the very much set Irish openers. Balbirnie chopped on, shaping up to cut one that spun away from him. Six balls later, Sodhi outfoxed Stirling with a more slow googly to knock ease his off-stump. Harry Tector's unfortunate World Cup reached a conclusion with a top-edge while Sodhi got Lorcan Tucker to opening to long-off as the spinners wrapped up their spells with two each. The breakdown of 5 for 35 between overs 9 and 15 fatally wounded Ireland's faint hopes of pulling off the massive chase. The 82 off the last five overs Ireland required were continuously going to be a difficult undertaking for the lower-order. Ferguson and Southee packed away two lower-order scalps each to catch Ireland 35 short convincingly.
Match Summary
New Zealand 185/6 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 61, Finn Allen 32; Joshua Little 3-22) beat Ireland 150/9 in 20 overs (Paul Stirling 37, Andrew Balbirnie 30; Lockie Ferguson 3-22, Mitchell Santner 2-26, Ish Sodhi 2-31) by 35 runs
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