To say New Zealand have had a dream start to their 2015 Cricket World Cup campaign would be a bit of an understatement.
Topping their table with three wins from three games so far, New Zealand have shown early on that their desire to finally convert a semi-final appearance into a final victory is stronger than ever.
Cricket World Cup 2015: New Zealand’s Dream Start
They started off their series and the tournament as a whole when they met Sri Lanka in Christchurch. These two teams were fairly familiar with one another, considering they had played a number of their warm-up games against each other, but a 98-run victory to the hosts was larger than most expected. Thanks to a Man Of The Match innings of 75 off 46 from Corey Anderson and a captain’s knock of 65 off 68 from Brendon McCullum, the Kiwis were able to post a massive 331 on the board, making Sri Lanka’s chase far more difficult than they would have hoped for.
Despite a fighting 65 off 90 from Thirimane, Sri Lanka were not able to cope with the New Zealand bowling attack, with all five strike bowlers picking up two wickets a piece. It was a superb example of a team sharing the bowling duties fairly and successfully to steer their team to victory.
Their second game, in Dunedin, was against Scotland and was expected to be a fairly easy game to breeze through for the men in black. Scotland had two stand-out performances, with Matt Machan and Richie Berrington both reaching their half centuries, but with four golden ducks on the batting cards, the visitors were all out for 142, with Anderson and Dan Vettori picking up three wickets apiece. Trent Boult was the stand-out bowler in this game as far as I am concerned. His opening bowling spell proved pivotal in terms of New Zealand gaining momentum and taking the remaining wickets. He was the first to strike and bowled superb, tight lines to the Scottish top-order, causing the ship to start wobbling very early on.
New Zealand, however, botched the run chase to the point of almost throwing away the entire game. Chasing small totals is a challenge and the intentions of the Kiwi batsmen were clear. The total had to be chased down as quickly as possible. But wild swinging and poor shot selection saw them fall to seven down before Vettori eventually hit the winning runs with a boundary over the keeper’s head. Not as convincing a win as many had hoped for.
Their third game against England has been my favourite so far. A clinical and comprehensive win saw New Zealand beat the English visitors before the lights were even switched on for what was meant to be a day/night game. England opted to bat first, but could not have predicted the onslaught that came from Tim Southee and his unbelievable swing bowling. He was, by far, the stand out of the day, picking up an historic 7-33 in just nine overs. The English batsmen looked clueless at the crease and, just like they have done before, found it impossible to support the one player (Joe Root) who had managed to salvage any kind of innings.
England set their opponents a measly 124-run target for victory (meaning they scored fewer than Scotland), and there was no way the Kiwis were going to mess up a second run chase. Captain McCullum smashed his way to the quickest World Cup fifty and went on to score 77 off 39 as the English strike bowlers failed to tame the big hitters. Steve Finn went for a monstrous 49 runs in just two overs, and New Zealand made the total in just 12.2 overs.
Although many can claim New Zealand have had three relatively easy matches so far, there is no denying this is a team in form. More importantly for them however, is the fact that they have been able to show the other teams as well as themselves that they are able to share the bowling and batting responsibilities around their squad with each player stepping forward to take on the challenge. Having broken two records already in just three games, their next fixture can’t come soon enough.
Remaining Round-Robin Fixtures
28 February 2015 – vs. Australia (Auckland D/N)
8 March 2015 – vs. Afghanistan (Napier)
13 March 2015 – vs. Bangladesh (Hamilton D/N)
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