Captain inning of Daniel Vettori (41 runs of 42 balls) and calm display of batting by G.Elliot (75* runs of 103 balls) guided New Zealand to the Final of ICC Champions Trophy 2009 which will be played against Australia on Monday 5th of October at Super Sport Park, Centurion. Both joined the crease when New Zealand were struggling in the middle and four of their top batsman back in the hut with just 126 runs on the board at the end of 30th over. But it was a well built partnership between Daniel Vettori and Grant Elliot of 104 runs of 104 balls which seize the game for New Zealanders. Chasing the target of 234 to reach the final of Champions trophy, New Zealand started their run chase poorly loosing their top three batsman’s for just 71 runs. But G.Elliot involved himself in two crucial partnership, first he put on 55 runs with Ross Taylor (38 runs of 61 balls) for the fourth wicket then he and his captain put on a match winning partnership of 126 runs for the fifth wicket to guide New Zealand safely home with 13 balls spare. Needing 59 runs in the last eight overs, the duo decided to get move on by taking batting power play from 43rd to 47th over. In these overs both batsman collected 55 runs to take the game away from Pakistan. Earlier Younus Khan won the toss and decided to bat first on a beautiful batting wicket but his bastman after getting set could not able to cash-in in the last 10 overs of their innings. At one stage they were in danger of bowled out (198/9 in the 45th over) without playing their full quota of overs but thanks to young Md.Amer (19* runs of 20 balls) and Saeed Ajmal (14* runs of 17 balls) cameo they were able to reach a total from their bowler can at least compete. Both put on unbeaten 35 runs for the last wicket. Other noticeable performer for Pakistan was Md. Yusuf (45 runs of 78 balls) and Umar Akmal (55 runs of 62 balls). For New Zealand, Ian Butler (4-44) and captain Daniel Vettori (3-43) shared seven wickets between them. D.Vettori was declared Player of the Match for his superb batting display and good display with the ball in a pressure game. Match Summary (New Zealand won by 5 Wickets) Pakistan– 233/9 in 50 Overs U.Akmal- 55 Md.Yusuf– 45 I.Butler– 10-0-44-4 D.Vettori- 10-2-43-3 New Zealand– 234/5 in 47.5 Overs G.Elliot- 75* D.Vettori– 41 S.Ajmal– 8-0-39-2 Md.Amer- 10-2-32-1 |
