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So that will be all from what was a dead rubber. There's one more group fixture left before the Super Eights get underway and that will take place tomorrow morning (if you're in India - tonight if you're in the Caribbean or the USA) with West Indies and Afghanistan both looking for a fourth win on the bounce in St Lucia. Do make sure to be back for our coverage of that game in a few hours' time right here on Sportskeeda. For the moment though, this is the duo of Probuddha and Rajarshi taking your leave. Thank you so much for being a part of our coverage today. See you again soon - good night and take care!
A win to finish for New Zealand and a win to sign off as a T20I player for Trent Boult. Kane Williamson spoke about reflections after every tournament and while the Blackcaps will reflect on a disappointing campaign, they would do well to also know that it could have gone their way another time around. Fine-tuning this team and overseeing an impending transition will be the big challenges for this outfit - particularly when you consider that majority of their core is on the wrong side of their thirties.
As for Papua New Guinea, they unfortunately end their campaign without a single win. Their bowlers have been magnificent game after game but on difficult surfaces, their batters found the challenge too steep. This experience will no doubt enrich them and make them better cricketers and they will look to build on it and secure qualification for the 2026 edition of this tournament that is scheduled to be played in India and Sri Lanka.
Kane Williamson (New Zealand captain): Turning up and executing on this surface which was pretty much hitting an area and letting the surface do it - the boys did it really well today. Whenever you come to any tournament, you want to start strong. I think conditions have been conditions and adapting faster would have been good to playing two very strong teams (WI and Afghanistan) who have knowledge of these conditions. After every tournament there's a bit of reflection. There are a few older guys and a few younger guys. In our camp, the more experienced guys, the likes of Trent - it's his last match in this format - has been great for the game. Sad to see him go but that's the nature of playing the sport for a long period of time. It's been quite special playing with him throughout his career. (What sets him apart?) As a guy, he's got such a big appetite to keep getting better. He's incredibly professional about how he goes about his business. He trains very hard, he's very very fit - as fit as he's ever been - and he's very clear in his head. He always sets the tone, sticks his chest out and goes out and performs well for his country. It's been a number of ICC events for him and he's made a fantastic contribution to the game.
Assad Vala (Papua New Guinea captain): (Key takeaways from the campaign) What we can take are a lot of learnings. Especially the batters. We found it tough to adapt to the wickets in front of us. The bowlers found it challenging as well but we found our way here. We believed that we could do well but there are some areas we can improve upon. There was some juice in the wicket and they exploited it really well. There were some (deliveries) that were rolling along the ground. With the World Cup, what we've done in the last month or so is get Papua New Guinea involved. Lot of people back home have watched us.
Trent Boult is treating fans in the stands to autographs and selfies. He has declared that this will be his last T20 World Cup of course so it's fair to say that he has hung up his boots from this format in international cricket. It's been a long time since he last played a Test. Are we looking at a potential swansong at the Champions Trophy then? Time will tell, but what a servant of New Zealand cricket he has been!
Lockie Ferguson (Player of the Match): It was a tough wicket to bat on. So my point of view it was nice to bowl like that. There is not many games in T20 cricket these days where you can bowl seam up through out. Hard to know in these wickets what is the par total. We have seen a lot of low totals. From that point of view we did a great job with the ball. We were put under pressure early by Afghanistan and West Indies. We will have to go back to the drawing board and come back strong in a couple of years. Yeah the crowd was great, it was a nice experience playing for them.
Match summary:
New Zealand win by 7 wickets with 46 balls to spare
Devon Conway 35 (32) | Lockie Ferguson 3/0 (4)
Charles Amini 17 (25) | Kabua Morea 2/4 (2.2)
While the target was a mere 79, as has been the case this T20 World Cup, the chasing side found it nearly impossible to gun it down quickly. The Papua New Guinea medium pacers played their tricks on a dicey Tarouba wicket - yet again inducing the question as to what would have been had Papua New Guinea had a few more runs on the board. New Zealand, though, got the job done with time to spare, and end what has been a forgettable T20 World Cup campaign for them on a high.
Finn Allen looked to slash at one angling away from him off Kabua Morea second ball of the run-chase, nicked behind, and sparked some curiousity momentarily. Devon Conway, alongside Rachin Ravindra, looked to get a move-along, but the sluggish nature of the pitch prevented them from breaking free. While Conway connected with the odd length delivery every now and then, Ravindra enjoyed no such moment or luck, and holed out to deep square off Morea.
The hopes of a quick finish seemed to disappear as the Blackcaps took their time. Conway, having gotten New Zealand to the brink, was trapped in front by a skiddy length delivery, but the Blackcaps had their most reliable batter in the middle, well-set by then. Kane Williamson joined forces with Daryl Mitchell, and the duo went on to nurdle, nudge and bludgeon the odd delivery to take the Blackcaps through. Thankfully for them, there were to be no more rain interventions either. Presentations coming up in a bit...
That was nowhere close to being as long as it was high. But it will do for the Blackcaps as they finish their campaign on a winning note. In a way, that last shot sums up how they never really took off to the extent they had to in this tournament but they will wear some smiles after a second consecutive win.
12.2 Kabua Morea to Daryl Mitchell, THATS IT!!!!! Full and slower at the off stump. Mitchell looks to go over long-on for a big hit but does not get the timing right. The ball lands outside the infield as the batters take a single and New Zealand go past the target set for them.
12.1 Kabua Morea to Daryl Mitchell, full and a slower delivery at the off stump. Mitchell manages to block that away to the square leg fielder.