T20 World Cup hosts Australia got a shocker in the opening match of the Super 12. The Aussies lost in the hands of neighbours New Zealand by a huge margin of 89 runs. This is not only a disastrous start to the campaign of the defending champions but also dents their Net Run Rate in a severe way.
After winning the toss, Australia chose to bowl first. NZ’s opener Fin Allen (42 off 16 balls) played explosive innings in the powerplay. As a result, the Kiwis managed to score 56 runs in just four overs. Finally, Hazlewood got dangerous Allen’s wicket in the fifth over. Later, skipper Kane Williamson (23) made a partnership of 69 runs with Devon Conway (92* off 58 balls). In the process, the latter also scored a half-century. In the death overs, James Neesham (26* off 13 balls) gave good support to Conway. As a result, New Zealand scored 200/3 in 20 overs. Conway missed his century by just eight runs.
NZ bowlers started attacking the Aussie batters right from the beginning. As a result, the hosts were never really in the chase. The wickets started falling from the second over itself. Mitchell Santner (3/31) and Tim Southee’s (3/6) explosive spells dismantled the Aussie batting attack. Barring Glenn Maxwell (28) and Pat Cummins (21), no other batter scored more than 20 runs. Eventually, Australia got all-out for 111 runs in 17.1 overs. With this loss, Australia’s NRR is -4.450 now. It may cost them heavily towards the business end of the Super 12 stage.