New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, in his official comeback match from a knee injury, scored a half-century before having to retire injured late in his team’s eight-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Williamson was not forced off the field because of his knee, but instead left the field in the 78th, in the 39th, after receiving a blow to the thumb during a throw-in from a defender. Bangladesh.
After the Black Caps notched their third win in three to start the tournament, Williamson said of his thumb: “I’ve got a scan tomorrow… hope everything’s okay.
“It got a little big and colorful straight away, so that made holding the bat a little difficult.
“Besides the thumb, it was great to come out of it from a knee point of view. And from a team point of view, it was a really good performance.”
Chasing 246 to win in Chennai, Williamson batted superbly in his first competitive match since rupturing knee ligaments in March. He had already shown promising form in New Zealand’s warm-up matches against Pakistan and South Africa, neither of which had official ODI status.
Williamson forged an 80-run partnership with Devon Conway (45) and anchored in the company of Daryl Mitchell (89no off 67 balls), who smashed the winning six with 43 balls to spare.
Earlier, Mushfiqur Rahim (66) was Bangladesh’s top scorer, sharing a 96-run partnership for the fifth wicket with skipper Shakib Al Hasan (40), who was also injured before finally perishing against the player of the match Lockie Ferguson (3-49).
After Williamson elected to bowl first, having won the toss, Trent Boult (2-45) struck with the very first ball of the contest, Litton Das being caught at fine leg.
Ferguson, extracting early pace and bounce from the wicket, then collected Tanzid Hasan (16) and Mehidy Hasan (30), while Glenn Phillips’ off-spin made for Najmul Hossain Shanto (7) to reduce Bangladesh to 56-4.
Mushfiqur and Shakib helped save things, before the injured captain fell while trying to pull Ferguson for a second successive six in the 30th over. Mushfiqur, meanwhile, had his stumps smashed by Matt Henry (2-58),
But after some late vigorous hitting from Mahmudullah (41no), Bangladesh’s innings faded in the last 15-20 overs as they eventually posted 245-9.
It was far from enough, as New Zealand followed up their convincing victories against defending champions England and the Netherlands with a third success to allow them to set the tone from the start of the rankings.
Bangladesh, winners of Afghanistan in their first World Cup match, have lost their last two matches against England and New Zealand.
And after?
The Cricket World Cup continues on Saturday with a huge clash between fierce rivals India And Pakistan in front of a crowd of 132,000 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Watch live on Sky Sports Cricket from 9 a.m. (first dance at 9:30 a.m.).
New Zealand are the next to act against Afghanistan Wednesday as the Black Caps look to make it four wins from four. As for Bangladeshstill looking for their first win, they will next face the tournament hosts India Thursday – both matches live on Sky Sports Cricket from 9 a.m. (first dance at 9:30 a.m.). The full match list and schedules for the World Cup are available here.
Watch every match of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 live on Sky Sports. You can stream the tournament NOW