(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] The Trans-Tasman rivalry added spice to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 as Australia defeated New Zealand in a last-over thriller by only five runs at Dharamsala on Saturday. With this win, Australia now have eight points in their cart, the same as their neighbours. However, Australia failed to surpass the Black Caps in the points table as the Tom Latham-led side fought till the end and avoided a big-margin defeat with their fighting instincts.
Australia, with brilliant knocks by their openers David Warner and Travis Head, posted a score of 388 on the board in 49.2 overs. Head made a comeback from his injury and smashed his maiden ODI World Cup hundred on his World Cup debut in 59 balls, which also became the fourth fastest ODI hundred for Australia. Head scored 109 runs off 67 balls with the help of 10 fours and seven sixes.
David Warner missed out on another hundred by 19 runs as the southpaw scored 81 runs off 65 balls. The 175-run partnership between Head and Warner became the fourth highest opening stand for Australia in World Cups and the second-highest opening partnership in the Trans-Tasman ODI battle.
In the high-voltage run chase, Rachin Ravindra scored his second ODI World Cup ton for New Zealand in 77 balls but failed to finish the game for his team. The 23-year-old Kiwi batter got dismissed by the Australian skipper Pat Cummins.
Daryl Mitchell, after scoring 54 runs, failed to convert it into a big score and was dismissed and sent back to the pavilion by Adam Zampa. In the last moments of the game, James Neesham (58 off 39), who almost pulled off a thriller, got run-out on the penultimate delivery of the innings, leaving New Zealand disheartened as they narrowly missed winning the game, finishing at 383/9.
A total of 771 runs were scored in the match. This is the highest aggregate runs that have been recorded in an ODI World Cup match. Earlier, the record was held by the South Africa-Sri Lanka game which also took place in the ongoing ODI World Cup in Delhi where 754 runs were scored across both the innings.