Oz overcome NZ by 5 runs in highest-scoring match

Dharamsala : Travis Head's bulldozing hundred and game awareness in crunch moments helped Australia negate a marvellous century by Rachin Ravindra to register a thrilling five-run victory over New Zealand in their World Cup match here on Saturday.

The destruction of Head (109 off 67 balls) and his opening partner David Warner (81 off 65 balls) during their 175-run alliance upfront gelled well with some late-order biffing as Aussies overcame a middle-order meltdown to post 388 all out, after they were put into bat. Ravindra made a sparkling 116 off 89 balls and James Neesham a manic 39-ball 58 but the Kiwis could only manage 383 to suffer their second successive defeat in the tournament.

The cumulative score of 771 posted by the two teams is highest aggregate score in a World Cup game surpassing 754 collectively notched up by South Africa (428) and Sri Lanka (326) in New Delhi on October 7, in this very event. With this win, Australia have eight points from six matches, same as New Zealand, and they are firmly entrenched at No. 4 at this point. But that position did not come without its moments of scares.

Ravindra gave them the biggest of them all with an innings that belied his tender age of 23. The left-hander does not have a big frame, but what he does have is immense timing that allows him to send the ball miles into the stands when required. Pat Cummins will vouch for that. Ravindra picked up a length ball outside the off-stump from the pacer to cart it over the covers for a six, and it was a stunner. His batting is easy on the eyes as well – good enough back-lift and a flowing follow-through make him a good addition to the elegant left-handers' club.

But those technicalities aside, his temperament too should be patted as Ravindra batted without even an iota of pressure against a set of battle-hardened Aussies. The Wellington lad, who was dropped on 100 by Glenn Maxwell off his own bowling, also pieced together good stands with fellow opener Devon Conway (61), 96 with Darryl Mitchell (54) for the third wicket and 54 with Tom Latham (21) for the fourth wicket.

Ravindra reached his hundred off 77 balls with a fine six off Maxwell over deep mid-wicket. It was his second hundred in this WC after the one in the tournament opener against England at Ahmedabad. He also joined Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill and Glenn Turner as the only Kiwi batters to have scored two hundreds in the World Cup.

Brief scores: Australia 388 all out in 49.2 overs (David Warner 81, Travis Head 109, Glenn Maxwell 41, Josh Inglis 38, Pat Cummins 37; Glenn Phillips 3-37, Trent Boult 3-77, Mitchell Santner 2-80) beat New Zealand 383/9 in 50 overs (Rachin Ravindra 116, Daryl Mitchell 54, James Neesham 58; Adam Zampa 3-74, Pat Cummins 2-66, Josh Hazlewood 2-70) by five runs.