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In his maiden World Cup innings, with the Himalayas soaring over him, Travis Head made a 59-ball hundred and triggered an avalanche. But ever damnable New Zealand not only dug themselves out, they detonated a counter-avalanche of their own, if geologically there is such a thing.<\/p>\n
Set a mountainous 389, New Zealand needed 19 from the last over and when wretched Mitch Starc\u2019s second ball went for five wides, they were within range. But two pieces of boundary line fielding from Marnus Labuschagne, at once desperate and cool, first denied Jimmy Neesham a boundary and then ran him out.<\/p>\n
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Australia\u2019s Travis Head was on fire against New Zealand in Dharamshala.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n Six from the last ball was not improbable this day, but after being astray and assailed all afternoon, Starc landed a yorker and No.11 Locke Ferguson was helpless to score from it.<\/p>\n Australia and New Zealand draw the best from one another. This was the closest match of the tournament, and perhaps the best, and it was decided by one hit among 771 runs, the fourth-greatest aggregate of runs in a match in one-day international history and the most at a World Cup. By the skin of those teeth, Australia are now as good as assured to be in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n The morning sun was still reflecting off the peaks when Head launched successive free-hit \u2013 and freely stroked \u2013 sixes over long-on from Matt Henry in the day\u2019s third over. They gave the day its bent and beat.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s 20 sixes were the most they have ever hit in one-day innings. They punctuated 32 fours. But The Kiwis responded by scattering 33 fours and 11 sixes of their own. Their last was registered when Labuschagne was helpless to stand on the long-on rope when trying to catch Trent Boult at the start of the 49th over. In the 50th over, Labuschagne would put this right.<\/p>\n This was a cracking day of crackling cricket. Such violent hitting was on one level incongruous in this most temple-like of venues and spiritual of settings. But it is a cricket ground, after all. Nothing in the prelude or the stadium\u2019s history prefigured this; New Zealand had weighed all when winning the toss \u2013 and bowled.<\/p>\n Head at times was almost contemptuous in his treatment of the Kiwi bowlers, which is all the more remarkable for the fact that this was his first match hit since breaking his hand barely six weeks ago. His hand was better, and the hand he played was extraordinary.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was obviously that part of the mindset I guess leading into the game. There\u2019s mental aches and pains throughout [the rehab period],\u201d he said. \u201cFunnily enough, once we lost the toss and we were batting, the adrenaline pumped up and it felt pretty good.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s Travis Head celebrates his century against New Zealand in Dharamshala.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThe batting hasn\u2019t been an issue for the last couple of weeks. It\u2019s about how I move in the field and how it reacts, and now how it pulls up, so we\u2019re in a good space.\u201d<\/p>\n Batting coach Michael Di Venuto, once his heart rate had settled, was chuffed for Head. \u201cWe know he\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t need a lot of work before games,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s fairly natural the way he goes about it. It\u2019s just a matter of making sure his hand was right.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t score runs in the nets. There\u2019s no adrenaline in the nets, there\u2019s no competition. So people like Trav, he gets his thrills out in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n David Warner was no less sublime, but for the second time in two matches was relegated to the sidekick role. Nonetheless, though eligible for master cricket, he is the tournament\u2019s second-highest run-maker.<\/p>\n David Warner was once again relegated to sidekick.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s seam attack were lambs to the slaughter, admittedly a plentiful commodity at home. Technically, they dropped five catches, but two at least were really heroic lunges that saved runs. The outfield was a bumpy and busy place all day. Fieldsmen on both teams hesitated to move in and often were reduced to ball-fetching.<\/p>\n The Australian openers\u2019 10-over Power play score, 0-118, was the second most at any World Cup (shaded only the West Indies\u2019 0-119 against Canada in 2003) and the highest in any one-day international for more than 20 years. At 0-175 inside 20 overs, Australia looked ready to vault over all previous cricket Everests.<\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s fightback was characteristically dogged, but unglamorous. Unpretentious and little-seen off-spinner Glenn Phillips claimed both openers and Steve Smith to boot, all departing tamely. Phillips would finish with 3-37 from his 10 overs. For context, the rest of the Kiwi attack returned 7\/350 from their 40 overs.<\/p>\n A prospective 400-plus score atrophied by the overs in the middle of the innings, a vexation for Australia in this tournament.<\/p>\n But they had picked extra batting and now used it all. More explosive hitting from Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis and Pat Cummins yielded 96 in the last 9.2 overs, leaving four balls unused. Cummins is reborn as a batsman; his trio of powerful sixes from Jimmy Neesham were as commanding as any batsman\u2019s.<\/p>\n Rachin Ravindra took control of the New Zealand innings.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Just as 400 beckoned, a chunk of the innings fell off as if from an iceberg. Australia lost 4-1 and did not bat out their 50 overs. But 388 to follow 8-399 against the Netherlands represented the first instance of successive 350-plus scores by any team in ODI cricket.<\/p>\n They needed every last bye of them. In the boldest of pursuits, New Zealand were always in the game. Starc was treated with as much disdain as the Kiwi quicks. Their openers launched them at 10 an over and Daryl Mitchell and Neesham made thumping half-centuries from Nos 4 and 7.<\/p>\n But the lynchpin was precocious Rachin Ravindra, who styled up 116 from 89 balls, his second century of the tournament. If not as savage as Head, his strokeplay was even more cultured. Given the merest width or a fraction of length, he creamed it. The crowd chanted his name, syllable perfect of course.<\/p>\n Australian wicketkeeper Marnus Labuschagne runs out Jimmy Neesham after a late cameo for New Zealand.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n He\u2019s Kiwi through and through, but his parents migrated from Bengaluru and bequeathed him Indian suppleness and timing. India has brought it out of him. Before this tournament, he had made 290 runs in 12 ODIs. Here, he\u2019s amassed 406 runs in six games, with power to add. His run making is nearly as profuse as his hair.<\/p>\n But chasing 400 runs is different from making them upfront; all the while, they weigh like a yoke. At length, Ravindra was caught at the longest of offs. Fog ghosted in, the lights came up and still nearly 100 were needed.<\/p>\n The New Zealanders had been to see the Dalai Lama on a day off, and now their lower order played as if blessed. Neesham both marshalled and blasted and not a body decamped. Countervailing Neesham et al, Cummins washed off his pace, took two wickets and arguably bowled the match-winning spell. It was as well that Starc at last his yorkers, too. But there was one sprawling Labuschagne save in it.<\/p>\n New Zealand, homeland of Sir Edmund Hillary, were a step from the summit of Everest when their oxygen ran out. Everyone else at last could exhale.<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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