Williamson has indeed started accelerating, with 2 sixes and a four in the last 3 overs. No further wicket yet. 106/3 with 5 overs remaining - I think they will get to 150-160 and that is never an easy total to chase.
oooo! first real slip in the field for Pakistan there. Missed run-out. That could have been crucial.
NZ’s push didn’t really come to much after all. Pakistan remained pretty solid in the field and 152 feels a bit below par. Defendable certainly but I’m sure NZ will think they left a dozen or two runs out there. Game on!
Pretty good finish for Pakistan to keep it to 152. Only 2 boundaries in the last 5 overs. With the players they had out there and 6 wickets in hand, NZ could have expected more.
With a 153 target, Pakistan must be favored 2:1. Question for me is if the total is that low, will they come out aggressive, or sit back and be patient? If they do the latter, and then also lose early wickets, it could get tough. But the announcers seem to think that these are “subcontinent” conditions, and Pakistan should pull through pretty easily.
ETA: Just checked the live line, which has Pak -137 and NZ +100. Midpoint of that is Pak -118.5, so closer to even than we might expect.
Good question and it will be interesting to see. I wouldn’t say 153 was particularly “low” regardless of conditions, but conventional wisdom would be to try and start steadily, keeping wickets in hand to accelerate later. Alternatively, you can go all out from the start on the basis that 80/4 after 10 overs is better than 60/2.
That’s partly why I said it’s never an easy target - if you’re chasing (say) 180, you can’t afford to spend much time consolidating, you have to start hitting out pretty much right away. There’s less to think about.
With that total there seems to be no real reason for Pakistan to rush it. I doubt they’ll cut loose early on unless the NZ bowling really invites it.
Well they’ve obviously decided that the NZ bowling is there for the taking. Some lovely shots played so far, 47-0 after 5.
this feels like the Eng-SR game the other day, looking like a stroll but then everything slows down and tightens up.
Yes, at one point Pakistan needed 19 from 21 balls and another wicket right then (just after they got Rizwan) could have made it interesting. Instead Haris hit a 4 and a 6 off the next 2 balls, and Pakistan were fairly comfortable again even though he got out a few balls later - that’s really the closest NZ have got. Not their best day in the field.
Yes, and you have to say that Pakistan bowled, fielded and batted really well. A good all-round performance.
Now then, the big question…which Pakistan will show up in the final?
Been horribly sick with a respiratory illness (not Covid) this last week and the match was a welcome distraction.
I was a bit sad that this great Kiwi side’s days are clearly numbered. Southee and Boult probably gone after the ODI WC, Taylor retired last year and who knows what Williamson will decide going forward. Kyle Jameison at least seems to have secured NZ future.
It was a pleasure watching them.
I suspect India and Australia will be rebuilding before 2024 as well.
Considering how useless India’s starters have been, it’s amazing they’ve made it this far. But thanks to Hardik and Kohli, they’ve reached the par score of 168. I’d say Eng should be favored to chase that down, so I think India will need a couple of powerplay wickets to stay in it.
I just checked the live line and it has India as being favored. You can get England at plus money now. Is there something in this pitch that we don’t know about? I am assuming that any betting line on India is likely not efficient, just due to the huge population there betting on one side.
Obviously it depends on the pitch, but against a top-class attack, to me 168 feels like a total I’d rather defend than chase. And England’s batting has been much less imperious recently than it was a year or so ago. I look at it this way - you can make quite a few mistakes in the field and still defend 168. You can’t make more than about 3 or 4 batting mistakes and successfully chase it.
ENG 0-80 off 8.
IND need a bag of wickets soon.
They can’t restrict the ENG score to less than 160 from here.
They need to bowl them, or at min the batters out.
Can’t post any predictions or opinions for fear of displeasing the capricious cricketing gods.
The benchmark for 180+ innings in the BBL is 100 off 12.
ENG are 104 off 10.
If this partnership isn’t broken in the next two overs ENG will get ‘em in singles.
ENG 123 off 12.
Even SA would struggle to blow it from here.
Could Hales get a ton? Needs 23 of the 46
I was thinking that with it being a used pitch there may be more in it for the spinners. Looks like there isn’t and coupled with little movement in the air both teams have made it look like a really good batting wicket.
At least India did so only after 10 overs, I think they will regret not pushing more in the first 10 but then that is their style and 168 was not bad by any means, just perhaps more short of the par score than we thought.