Player of the Match
Player of the Match

6.15pm Alrighty then. Hope you've enjoyed our coverage. If you're looking to pop over to our commentary from the Australia-Sri Lanka game, you just need to click here. I'm off for the day, so ta ta until next time.

Mangesh: "Afghans are the first in this WC to restrict the NZ run rate under 6, which was not possible even for the 'big 3' in the group. Hats off to their fighting spirit! Well played!"

Phil: "Black Caps issue is they've only batted for 150 overs in 5 games. Really not a good practice for the tougher matches still to come."

Manikandan KP: "I like this score card 57, 42, 33, 24, 19, 7 ... Complete this series" I have no idea. Anyone else?

Brendon McCullum: "The way we bowled early on, 60 for 6, credit to Afghanistan for posting a total that was a little bit tricky for us. We got the ends wrong, and obviously it's great when you have a guy like Dan who can jump in and get a wicket and help the guys switch ends. Fielding could go up a gear, but I thought overall a good performance. We can improve, but overall not a bad chase, not a bad win for us. Special cricketer, what he's achieved in all three forms of the game for close to two decades. It's great to have him back, he's a very special member of our team and will continue to be so over the next few games. Wouldn't swap Boult and Southee for anyone [Twitter question - would you swap them for Wasim Akram/Aquib Javed who won the 92 World Cup]."

Mohammad Nabi: Good toss to win but we needed to score 280. The way New Zealand bowled, especially Vettori, they bowled very well. The top five batsmen, entire tournament, haven't done well. Hopefully we'll try in the next game. Shenwari has played well in the whole tournament, and a good start for Najibullah. We tried our best to take the match as long as possible."

Dan Vettori is the man of the match. "[The pitch was] probably a touch slower today, and once we got a good start from the fast bowlers I could back it up. A little bit more worn than usual, usually it's more pristine. Pretty used to bowling early on, you play so much T20 cricket, and sometimes the newer ball skids on. It's a lot of fun, playing the World Cup at home, an experience none of us will forget. So far so good.

6.03pm New Zealand have made it five out of five. Afghanistan were never going to win this from 59 for 6, but they kept fighting, with bat and ball, and never made it easy for their opponents. Slightly unconvincing display from New Zealand's batsmen, I'm not sure they've all really hit form yet, but Guptill and Taylor will be pleased they spent a good amount of time at the wicket.

36.1
4
Mohammad Nabi to Anderson, FOUR, tossed up outside off, and that is that. Anderson stretches out and swipes it away powerfully through midwicket

END OF OVER:
36 | 5 Runs | NZ: 184/4 (3 runs required from 14 overs, RR: 5.11, RRR: 0.21)

  • Ross Taylor24 (41b)
  • Corey Anderson3 (7b)
  • Dawlat Zadran9-0-51-0
  • Mohammad Nabi7-0-35-1
35.6
0
Dawlat Zadran to Taylor, no run, bouncer outside off, left alone
35.5
4
Dawlat Zadran to Taylor, FOUR, full, down the leg side, poor ball, glanced away to the left of the diving wicketkeeper
35.4
0
Dawlat Zadran to Taylor, no run, fullish outside off, doesn't quite come on. Wants to drive through cover initially, adjusts and uses his wrists to tuck it into the leg side, towards short midwicket
35.3
0
Dawlat Zadran to Taylor, no run, yorker on off stump, poked back to the bowler
35.2
1
Dawlat Zadran to Anderson, 1 run, low full-toss outside off, driven to sweeper cover
35.1
0
Dawlat Zadran to Anderson, no run, full-toss on leg stump, blocked to short midwicket

Batting powerplay. Dawlat Zadran comes on.

END OF OVER:
35 | 4 Runs | NZ: 179/4 (8 runs required from 15 overs, RR: 5.11, RRR: 0.53)

  • Corey Anderson2 (5b)
  • Ross Taylor20 (37b)
  • Mohammad Nabi7-0-35-1
  • Shapoor Zadran10-2-45-1
34.6
1
Mohammad Nabi to Anderson, 1 run,
34.6
1w
Mohammad Nabi to Anderson, 1 wide, short outside off, cut away towards deep point
34.5
0
Mohammad Nabi to Anderson, no run, full on off stump, whipped to short midwicket
34.4
1
Mohammad Nabi to Taylor, 1 run, length ball turning towards middle stump. Taylor jams his bat down to defend, goes off the inside edge into the leg side
34.3
1
Mohammad Nabi to Anderson, 1 run, shortish, a bit of width, slapped away to the left of sweeper cover
34.2
0
Mohammad Nabi to Anderson, no run, flatter now, a bit round-arm, angling in towards middle stump, defended into the on side
34.1
0
Mohammad Nabi to Anderson, no run, tossed up on off stump, blocked to short extra cover

around the wicket to Anderson

END OF OVER:
34 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | NZ: 175/4 (12 runs required from 16 overs, RR: 5.14, RRR: 0.75)

  • Ross Taylor19 (36b)
  • Corey Anderson0 (0b)
  • Shapoor Zadran10-2-45-1
  • Mohammad Nabi6-0-31-1
33.6
0
Shapoor Zadran to Taylor, no run, full outside off, jabbed to short cover

Dave: "Taylor always looks to me like he has just been woken up from his nap. Even when in form his starts are a bit lazy. Compare him to Elliott who is busy right from the get go." -- Could have been a bit busier running that single :)

Here's Corey Anderson.

33.5
W
Shapoor Zadran to Elliott, OUT, Is that another run-out? Full outside off, driven to mid-off, and the fielder, Nabi, hits the stumps direct at the bowler's end, and, as replays confirm, Elliott is short of his crease. He hit it too firmly for that to be a comfortable single. OUT, says the big screen.

GD Elliott run out 19 (32m 28b 1x4 0x6) SR: 67.85

33.4
0
Shapoor Zadran to Elliott, no run, shuffles across a long way to this full ball outside off, defends it back to the bowler
33.3
1
Shapoor Zadran to Taylor, 1 run, a bit of width, not too short, Taylor cuts it hard into the ground and it bounces over the leaping backward point fielder, who gets a hand to it to slow it down
33.2
0
Shapoor Zadran to Taylor, no run, length ball angling into off stump, defended to short cover
33.1
0
Shapoor Zadran to Taylor, no run, shortish outside off, slapped towards point

Animesh: "So he's the Kiwi Rohit Sharma. Or Rohit is the Indian Ross Taylor. Neither is a very happy thought though." -- No, no. Rohit Sharma comes in, looks like the same lazily elegant batsman all the time, and maybe his scores are a little inconsistent. Taylor's scores are fairly consistent, but sometimes he looks like an amazingly gifted batsman and sometimes he scratches around horribly

END OF OVER:
33 | 6 Runs | NZ: 174/3 (13 runs required from 17 overs, RR: 5.27, RRR: 0.76)

  • Grant Elliott19 (26b)
  • Ross Taylor18 (32b)
  • Mohammad Nabi6-0-31-1
  • Shapoor Zadran9-2-44-1
32.6
0
Mohammad Nabi to Elliott, no run, a bit of dip now on an off-stump line, he was looking to come forward to that, adjusted, pulled his front foot back, and defended it back to the bowler
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    A six-wicket win with almost 14 overs to spare barely acknowledges the gulf in class between the hosts and Afghanistan, but for those New Zealand players who needed a greater workout, it was a worthwhile outing

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    #BendTheRules Moments from the Group A match between New Zealand and Afghanistan

McCullum in overdrive

229

Runs scored by McCullum in the first 10 overs in this World Cup, off 108 balls. Strike rate: 212

NZ's rollicking starts

9.32

New Zealand's run rate in the first 5 overs in this World Cup - 233 runs in 150 balls. It's easily the best among all teams

Searching for a century stand

0

Number of century partnerships for Afghanistan in this World Cup. They're the only team in this tournament without one

Unknown Quantities

0

Previous instances of Afghanistan and New Zealand playing each other in an ODI.