Rashid Riaz (Pakistan), Richard Illingworth (England), Michael Gough (England, TV)
Referee
David Boon (Australia)
Toss
New Zealand elected to bowl
Pitch Report
Lahore pitches are a good batting track, bit of spin on it too. There's a bit of grass covering, and something for the faster bowlers to start with. It's a typical Gaddafi Stadium pitch. First hour is crucial as there'll be something on it.
VENUE STATS
1st Innings
253Avg Runs
7Avg Wkts
89.58Avg
SR
2nd Innings
220Avg Runs
7Avg Wkts
87.33Avg
SR
Weather Update
Weather Update
Lahore,Pakistan
Updated: 10 Feb 17:30
22.6°CClear
clear sky
28%
Clouds
0%
Rain %
45%
Humidity
2.4 kmph
Wind
Playing XILineups Out
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Experts are creating their teams, watch this space
Expert Team 1
W Mulder
S Muthusamy
Expert Team 2
M Henry
M Santner
Venue Details
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Lahore pitches are a good batting track, bit of spin on it too. There's a bit of grass covering, and something for the faster bowlers to start with. It's a typical Gaddafi Stadium pitch. First hour is crucial as there'll be something on it.
The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
5:47 pm local time (6:17 pm IST): So that will be all for this series from Lahore. The action now shifts to Karachi, first with the straight shoot-out between Pakistan and South Africa on the 12th of February to reach the final. The action begins at 2:00 pm local time (2:30 pm IST). For now, this is the pair of Darpan and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda!
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand captain): With so many players performing at different times in two different games to give us two wins is really good! We pride ourselves on our fielding. If a partnership is on, we try to make it harder for the pair to score with our fielding. It's something that you can control of course. Kane Williamson and Devon Conway made the batting look easier than what it was on that pitch, which had more grass on it and offered more bounce.
Temba Bavuma (South Africa captain): There were some positives, Matthew Breetzke was superb with his 150. The bowlers also stepped up towards the end. But I think we fell a bit short with the runs. It obviously moved around a bit early on, once we got used to it, it got easier, but still, runs were lost out then. We have to up our game, neither in this series, nor in the Champions Trophy. It's a quick turnaround. Matthew Breetzke is one of the few guys who plays for us in all three formats. I'm sure you'll see a lot of him in the times to come.
Kane Williamson (New Zealand) is the Player of the Match. Here is what he has to say: "The conditions were a little bit different than the last game. The ball did a bit. South Africa did well to put that score on the board. Matthew Breetzke was fantastic. We had to work hard to chase it down. We are trying to get accustomed to different venues. Now, we have a few days off. We played the night game the other day, today the day game. Now the finals in Karachi and then off to the Champions Trophy. It was great to be out there and build a few nice partnerships. Devon Conway's part was huge."
Time for the post-match presentation.
5:23 pm local time (5:53 pm IST): New Zealand win by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare and qualify for the final!
Kane Williamson 133* (113) | Matt Henry - 2/59 (10) Matthew Breetzke 150 (148) | Senuran Muthusamy - 2/50 (8.4)
A 187-run 2nd wicket partnership off only 150 balls between the returning Devon Conway and the ever-reliable Kane Williamson was the difference between the sides! Right through the middle overs of this innings, the duo plundered runs against each and every bowler on show and eased all the nerves.
The 1st wicket partnership between Will Young and Conway yielded 50 runs but the Blackcaps needed a bigger stand to make the work easier later on. And that is exactly what they got! Williamson went on to register his 14th ODI hundred. The left-handed Conway fell short of three figures by just 3 runs, but put his team in pole position to win this game.
However, the batting side did stutter with the loss of Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham in back-to-back deliveries. They lost 3 wickets in quick succession and suddenly, even with the asking rate under control, New Zealand were put under some pressure by the Proteas.
But then came the steady 50-run unbeaten stand between Glenn Phillips, the centurion of the previous game, and of course, Williamson, that finished it with balls to spare.
South Africa were without their usual names, but disappointed in the field, with the ball and with their tactics for most parts. More importantly, Matthew Breetzke's impressive 150 got put to waste.
So, with this win, New Zealand book a place in the final on Friday in Karachi. The winner of the game between Pakistan and South Africa on Wednesday joins them.
A photo-finish from Kane Williamson! Glenn Phillips and he ensure that New Zealand don't have any more hiccup.
48.4 Senuran Muthusamy to Kane Williamson, DRILLED FOR FOUR! Williamson skipped out of his crease, got the pitch of the ball and send it racing, along the turf, straight as an arrow to the boundary down the ground. A comprehensive win for the Blackcaps.
Scores are level.
48.3 Senuran Muthusamy to Glenn Phillips, shorter, at the fourth stump. Phillips cuts it to deep point and Williamson denies the second run.
Verreynne says, "Take it to the last!"
48.2 Senuran Muthusamy to Glenn Phillips, fuller, at the middle and off. Phillips gets forward to push it back to the bowler.
48.1 Senuran Muthusamy to Glenn Phillips, APPEAL FOR LBW! More in hope than out of conviction. Flat trajectory, length ball that comes in with the arm to ping the front leg that was clearly outside the leg stump.
We go into another over now. New Zealand are doing it easy here, without taking any undue risk. Surely, these two don't want to leave it to anyone else at this stage!
48
overs
303/4score
0
1
2
0
0
1
runs
Glenn Phillips*
27(29)
Kane Williamson
129(112)
Tabraiz Shamsi
0/62
47.6 Tabraiz Shamsi to Glenn Phillips, shorter, at the off peg. NZ are in no hurry. Punched nonchalantly to long-off for a single.
47.5 Tabraiz Shamsi to Glenn Phillips, same trajectory and pace. Fuller. Phillips gets forward to nudge it back to the bowler.
47.4 Tabraiz Shamsi to Glenn Phillips, quicker, fuller, at the middle and leg. Phillips stood with an open stance and nudged it away defensively.
The 50-partnership is up between Phillips and Williamson.
47.3 Tabraiz Shamsi to Glenn Phillips, flat, fuller side of good length, pitches at the fourths stump and turns inwards. Phillips taps it to deep point and gets two for it.