DHAKA: A haul of Daniel Vettori’s four and Trent Boult’s three wickets helped New Zealand defeat Afghanistan by six wickets in their ICC World Cup Pool A match in Napier on Sunday.

Chasing Afghanistan-set a small target of 187 runs, News Zealand reached the victory, scoring 188 runs for four in 36.1 overs.

Martin Guptill hit fifty, contributing 57 runs off 76 balls with seven fours. Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor added 42, 33, and 24 runs respectively.

Afghanistan’s Shapoor Zadran and Mohammad Nabi pocketed a wicket each.

Earlier, Afghanistan scored 186 runs all out in 47.4 overs.

Javed Ahmadi and Usman Ghani began the Afghan’s innings. Afghanistan began losing wickets early.

Four Afghan batsmen reached the double digit, including two fifties. Two got ducks. 

Najibullah Zadran scored 56 runs off 56 balls with seven fours and a pair of sixes. Samiullah Shenwari contributed 54 runs off 110 balls with five boundaries and a over boundary.

Nawroz Mangal and Hamid Hassan added 27 and 16 runs respectively.

New Zealand’s Vettori was most successful, followed by Boult. They took a haul of four and three wickets respectively.

Corey Anderson bagged two wickets while Adam Milne took one.

Earlier, Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and decided to field. The match kicked off at McLean Park at 4:00am.

Dan Vettori became man of the match. "[The pitch was] probably a touch slower today, and once we got a good start from the fast bowlers I could back it up. A little bit more worn than usual, usually it's more pristine. Pretty used to bowling early on, you play so much T20 cricket, and sometimes the newer ball skids on. It's a lot of fun, playing the World Cup at home, an experience none of us will forget. So far so good”, he said.

Wining captain Brendon McCullum said: "The way we bowled early on, 60 for 6, credit to Afghanistan for posting a total that was a little bit tricky for us. We got the ends wrong, and obviously it's great when you have a guy like Dan who can jump in and get a wicket and help the guys switch ends.”

“Fielding could go up a gear, but I thought overall a good performance. We can improve, but overall not a bad chase, not a bad win for us. Special cricketer, what he's achieved in all three forms of the game for close to two decades. It's great to have him back, he's a very special member of our team and will continue to be so over the next few games. Wouldn't swap Boult and Southee for anyone”, he added.

Defeated captain Mohammad Nabi said: “Good toss to win but we needed to score 280. The way New Zealand bowled, especially Vettori, they bowled very well. The top five batsmen, entire tournament, haven't done well. Hopefully we'll try in the next game. Shenwari has played well in the whole tournament, and a good start for Najibullah. We tried our best to take the match as long as possible."

** Afghans facing Kiwis’ attack

BDST: 2004 HRS, MAR 08, 2015