The picturesque landscape of Dharamsala stood witness to one of the most enthralling games of ODI World Cups as Australia thwarted a brave New Zealand charge to eke out a five-run win on Saturday.
The match saw 771 runs scored in total, the most ever in a World Cup. And it went down to the very last ball as well. Almost 100 overs (four balls short) of edge-of-the-seat entertainment.
The fate of ODIs is still clouded, the format sandwiched between Tests and T20s, but this match showed why the 50-over game can’t just be casually discarded as a boring affair. With the right kind of teams and conditions, an ODI has enough spice to tickle the tastebuds of the T20 generation too.
Travis Head stood tall at the ground by the hills with a breathtaking innings, but he was certainly not the only character that caught the eye in the thriller that was scripted. Head’s opening partner David Warner, New Zealand’s fast-rising Rachin Ravindra, tragic hero Jimmy Neesham, they all played key roles.
Even Mitchell Starc, who conceded 89 runs in his wicketless nine overs, played a
big hand in Australia’s close win over their trans-Tasman rivals.
The demolition job of Head (109 off 67 balls) and his opening partner Warner (81 off 65 balls) during their 175-run alliance along with some late-order big-hitting helped the Aussies overcome a middle-order meltdown to post 388 all out, after they were put into bat.
New Zealand replied with 383/9, the highest total by any team in a chase at the ODI World Cup. Young Ravindra made a sparkling 116 off 89 balls and James Neesham a manic 39-ball 58.
They needed 19 off the final over. Starc bowled five wides with his second delivery to raise New Zealand hopes. Neesham was still at the crease and 7 were needed off the last two balls. But the all-rounder was run out while stealing a second run and Lockie Ferguson could not score off the final ball. The Black Caps fell agonisingly short to suffer their second successive defeat in the tournament.
Australia now have eight points, the same as New Zealand, who are ahead on net run rate.
Back with a bang
It was Head though who would steal headlines. Replacing Cameron Green in the XI after recovering from a broken hand, Head was ruthless along with Warner as they put up a mammoth 175 runs in just 19.1 overs.
He showed why Australia insisted on having him in the squad despite his injury. He was dropped on 70 by Mitchell Santner off his own bowling, but that will not take anything away from his marvellous innings, which had 10 fours and seven sixes. “That is how we want to play,” captain Pat Cummins said after the match.
