World Cup 2019: Twitter reacts as Mitchell Starc’s fifer helps Australia retain their pole position
Both Australia and New Zealand had been doing exceptionally well in this edition’s World Cup. While the former was already into the semi-finals, the latter already had a foot towards it. But, now the Kiwis will have to wait to secure their place as the Kangaroos outplayed them in the Trans-Tasman derby at Lord’s.
Chasing a challenging but acheivable target of 244, New Zealand’s innings suffered an early setback as Henry Nicholls failed to justify his selection. After Martin Guptill’s dismissal, the onus was on the two in-form batters, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.
Williamson scored 40 while Taylor accumulated 30. But the New Zealand batting order crumbled like a pack of cards. Only two batters reached double figures after them, and neither could cross the 15-run mark. Mitchell Starc proved yet again why he is considered as one of the world’s most dangerous bowlers. The pacer picked up 5 wickets to further strengthen his position as the highest wicket taker of this World Cup.
Australia’s start was even worse, as the reliable top order save Usman Khawaja was dismissed within the 12th over. Khawaja carried on the fight alongside Marcus Stoinis. After the all-rounder’s dismissal, Khawaja found an unlikely partner in Alex Carey. The duo set up a mammoth 107-run partnership.
The Australian wicket-keeper scored 71 runs from 72 deliveries, while Khawaja fell short of his third ODI ton by just 12 runs. Trent Boult was New Zealand’s best bowler, picking up four crucial wickets, including that of Khawaja, the first wicket of his near-perfect hattrick in the last over.
There can be only one star of the match for this game – Starc. With his venomous left-arm pace bowling, the 29-year-old gave nightmares to every Kiwi batter. He has now picked up 24 wickets in this tournament so far, 7 more than his nearest competitor Lockie Ferguson.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Australia's dominating win.
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