Thank for joining us. Until next time, this is Shashank Kishore saying goodbye on behalf of Peter Della Penna. Don't forget to join us for the big one on Sunday: India v Australia from The Oval. It should be a corker of a contest. Cheers!
Kane Williamson: Outstanding win. They have a few world-class players, they got off to a very good start but we stuck to our plans, great to see the way the seamers came back. Lockie is a fast bowler, his role is to bowl fast. It doesn't need much encouragement to get him up. He's made a big difference because of the left-arm right-arm combination. Neesham was superb as well, there was pace and movement, and he used the conditions well. My form's been alright, just doing a job for the team. We've now chased three games in a row. Great to win every game you play, we've got a couple of days off, which the guys will look forward to before we play India in a few days time.
Gulbadin Naib: Batting let us down. We've a lot of work to do on the field. We need to improve day-by-day.
Jimmy Neesham is Player of the Match for his 5 for 31: "Obviously pretty pleased with how the ball came out today. Afghanistan put us under a lot of pressure at the start of the game but we knew if we kept pushing hard and putting the ball in the right areas that we'd be able to get through and obviously we did a pretty clinical job chasing. I just wanted to get back to what I do bowling and try to be consistent, hit the deck as much as possible and not worry about swinging the ball because that's not my forte."
The bigger news today though is the health status of Rashid Khan. He never took the field after he sustained a concussion on the ball that bowled him by Lockie Ferguson, ricocheting off the lid of his helmet onto the stumps. The silver lining for Afghanistan is they have six days off before their next match against South Africa next Saturday as both teams are still in search of their first win. That may be enough of a break in between games for Rashid to recover and resume his place as Afghanistan's strike bowler. It was always going to be an uphill battle defending 172 without him and so it proved. Afghanistan got off to a fabulous start, having reached 61 for 0 in the Powerplay after being sent in at the toss before Jimmy Neesham's spell dismantled their top order.
8.18 pm Captain Kane Williamson makes the most of a severely botched runout chance by Hashmatullah Shahidi at short midwicket when he was on 22 to end unbeaten on 79. New Zealand remain a perfect three for three to top the World Cup points table. Afghanistan now fighting to avoid the wooden spoon with three losses from their first three matches.
END OF OVER:32 | 4 Runs | NZ: 172/3 (1 run required from 18 overs, RR: 5.37, RRR: 0.05)
- Tom Latham13 (18b)
- Kane Williamson78 (98b)
- Hamid Hassan7-0-30-0
- Aftab Alam8-0-44-3
One shot will do it for NZ.
END OF OVER:31 | 6 Runs | NZ: 168/3 (5 runs required from 19 overs, RR: 5.41, RRR: 0.26)
- Tom Latham11 (14b)
- Kane Williamson77 (96b)
- Aftab Alam8-0-44-3
- Hamid Hassan6-0-27-0
Around the stumps to Latham.
Aftab comes back. Three overs left, has all three wickets.
END OF OVER:30 | 7 Runs | NZ: 162/3 (11 runs required from 20 overs, RR: 5.40, RRR: 0.55)
- Tom Latham8 (11b)
- Kane Williamson74 (93b)
- Hamid Hassan6-0-27-0
- Gulbadin Naib9-1-55-0
Around the stumps to Latham.
Cheers Shanky. Hamid Hassan is back.
END OF OVER:29 | 12 Runs | NZ: 155/3 (18 runs required from 21 overs, RR: 5.34, RRR: 0.85)
- Kane Williamson68 (89b)
- Tom Latham8 (9b)
- Gulbadin Naib9-1-55-0
- Aftab Alam7-0-38-3
That's that for me tonight. Over to Peter for whatever little is left of this chase. See you, folks.
Coming back to the appeal in the previous over, Afghanistan may have just had Latham had they had a review. Came back as all three reds. I'd mentioned an inside-edge but the spike was of the bat hitting the flap of the pad at the time the ball thudded in. Gulbadin's burned review has denied them a wicket
