***Official***Match #16- New Zealand vs Afghanistan- October 18th-Chennai (D/N)

[Moss]

Massive couple of weeks coming up for NZ - games against India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan. Probably need to win 2 of those to feel confident of a semifinal spot.

Much like 2019 they've had a good draw in terms of playing relatively easier opponents at the start (though England first up could have been far more difficult). Overall think they're in a good place, though how the bowling copes if Henry/Boult have off days remains to be seen, especially with the non-frontline options they have. Batting too will face more difficult questions than they've been asked so far. Otherwise, most of the boxes ticked, bring on the next few games.

 

[loterry1994]

Yeah I thought that was a mistake choosing to bowl first but their bowling wasn't the problem, it was their fielding and batting that was the problem.

Their batting probably would have been better setting a total during the day than chasing a total under lights though.

They probably should have had NZ for 40-50 runs less but their bowling I thought did well. They do lack death bowlers though. And I’m not a big fan of Mujeeb opening think you need pacers in the powerplay to see if there’s swing.

I think regardless of conditions though. Afghanistan should try to be batting first as much as they can while their batters develop further because from what I’ve seen they really struggle chasing anything over 200. Defending a total is definitely better for them

 

[thierry henry]

This is going down in history as “Santner’s Cup”

 

[Fuller Pilch]

This is going down in history as “Santner’s Cup”

11 wickets @ 15.09 (e/r 4.40)
2 innings - 36* off 17 & 7* off 5 (so 43 runs undismissed @ about 200 s/r)
Plus a screamer of a catch today

 

[Athlai]

Yessss

 

[NZTailender]

Didn't watch any of the match. Waking up to read the scorecard suggests we thumped them. Then reading through this thread would have you believe Afghanistan basically won the match in the first half but somehow contrived to lose it to the sloppy Kiwis.

 

[Athlai]

Didn't watch any of the match. Waking up to read the scorecard suggests we thumped them. Then reading through this thread would have you believe Afghanistan basically won the match in the first half but somehow contrived to lose it to the sloppy Kiwis.

So many paper hearts

 

[Flem274*]

Didn't watch any of the match. Waking up to read the scorecard suggests we thumped them. Then reading through this thread would have you believe Afghanistan basically won the match in the first half but somehow contrived to lose it to the sloppy Kiwis.

They dropped some absolute dollies tbf. Could have made it very interesting if they nabbed us for 200-220.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Yeah watching the extended illicit highlights the scoreline definitely flatters us. If they'd taken the easier chances we would've been in real trouble.

 

[thierry henry]

Setting our stall out for 260ish from the 20th over and then megaboshing the last 6 overs to make 288 can reasonably be called an underwhelming effort against Afghanistan. Saying ‘this batting effort could be better’ isn’t saying ‘we gon lose’.

 

[Athlai]

I think most top teams would back themselves to score 100 off 10 overs with 6 wickets in hand

 

[thierry henry]

We got 78 off the last 6 overs which is definitely a lot

Anyway I just refuse to be placed in the weak gutted dog category on this one particular occasion where I more or less kept my cool

 

[Neil Young]

Setting our stall out for 260ish from the 20th over and then megaboshing the last 6 overs to make 288 can reasonably be called an underwhelming effort against Afghanistan. Saying ‘this batting effort could be better’ isn’t saying ‘we gon lose’.

I agree with the last bit.

Afghanistan have a decent attack, however, and it was a reasonably stodgy pitch. 280 from 110-4 (with no set batsman) after 25 was a good effort. Par, I'd say, rather than underwhelming.

 

[thierry henry]

Oh it was 100% an above-par score from 110/4 and probably a par-ish score overall. The only minor complaint is that in the middle overs we effectively settled for a modest score and limited our potential score more than was strictly necessary. Nevertheless we batted really well at the death and the overall outcome was fine

 

[Prince EWS]

We got 78 off the last 6 overs which is definitely a lot

Anyway I just refuse to be placed in the weak gutted dog category on this one particular occasion where I more or less kept my cool

You were a weak gutted dog as a kid and you're a weak gutted dog poster now.

 

[Athlai]

Oh it was 100% an above-par score from 110/4 and probably a par-ish score overall. The only minor complaint is that in the middle overs we effectively settled for a modest score and limited our potential score more than was strictly necessary. Nevertheless we batted really well at the death and the overall outcome was fine

Nah, genuinely we were always aiming for 270. Keeping wickets in hand till the 35th over is how this is done in ODIs, particularly after a decent start.

centurymaker's handwringing was diabolical.

 

[thierry henry]

Nah, genuinely we were always aiming for 270.

Yeah and we coulda/shoulda/woulda aimed for more than 270 imo

Anyway it's a total whatevs now innit

 

[Prince EWS]

This dude loves bowling full-tosses

Weird kink.

 

[Bahnz]

Massive couple of weeks coming up for NZ - games against India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan. Probably need to win 2 of those to feel confident of a semifinal spot.

If NZ can beat Sri Lanka, then I think 1 out of the other 4 will probably be enough to advance especially given the mixed performances from everyone else besides India. That'll be 6 wins, which was the cut-off for advancing in 2019.

 

[BeeGee]

280 on that pitch was a massive score. The equivalent of 350 on a good deck. Every batsman struggled to accelerate the scoring except Chapman. Genuinely difficult batting track.
After posting that score I was confident NZ would win by 100+ and I'm a pessimistic prick.