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While chasing, Afghanistan were down to 43-3 by the 14th over, with skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (8) being the third man to be dismissed, with Ferguson having his number. Then, the pair of Rahmat Shah (36) and Azmatullah Omarzai (27) took brief control of the chase, putting on a 54-run stand for the fourth wicket.

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However, the New Zealanders already had the upper hand, and with the ball turning, they hardly allowed them to score freely. In the 26th over, pacer Trent Boult got the partnership broken, getting rid of Omarzai. Thereon, the Afghans barely had any answers as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Earlier, New Zealand recovered well from a mini mid-innings slump to post a commendable total. However, a total of five dropped catches did make things a bit hard for the Afghans, especially Rashid, who saw a couple of his chances go abegging.

Impressive total

Young, Latham and Phillips’s half-centuries ensure that the Black Caps posted an above-par total on a track where stroke-making wasn’t an easy proposition. Phillips and Latham put on 144 invaluable runs for the fifth wicket and it could well prove to be a game-changer.

Brief scores
NZ 288-6 in 50 overs (G Phillips 71, T Latham 68, W Young 54, R Ravindra 32; N Haq 2-48, A Omarzai 2-56) beat Afghanistan 139 all out in 34.4 overs (R Shah 36, Omarzai 27; L Ferguson 3-19, M Santner 3-39, T Boult 2-18) by 149 runs.

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