TAROUBA (Trinidad and Tobago): Thanks to fiery spells from pace duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult, New Zealand secured their first win in the ICC T20 World Cup defeating Uganda by nine wickets in their Group C encounter at Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday.
With this win, New Zealand is in the third spot with a win and two losses, with two points. They are not in contention for the Super Eights stage for which West Indies and Afghanistan have qualified. Uganda is in the fourth spot with a win and three losses, giving them two points.
New Zealand won the toss and asked Uganda to bat first.
Uganda was given two big jolts in the first over, as pacer Trent Boult cleaned up Simon Ssesazi and Simon Ssesazi for two golden ducks.
In the fourth over, Southee gave Uganda their third successive dismissal as he trapped Alpesh Ramjani leg-before wicket for a six-ball duck. Uganda was 2/3 in 3.4 overs. At the end of the powerplay in six overs, Uganda was 9/3.
Uganda just could not handle the top class pace of Boult (2/7) and Southee (3/4). Halfway through their innings, they were at 21/5 in 10 overs.
Spinners Mitchell Santner (2/8) and Rachin Ravindra (2/9) also chipped in with some fine contributions. Except for Kenneth Waiswa (11 in 18 balls, with two fours), nobody could reach the double digits and Uganda was cleaned up for 40 runs in 18.4 overs.
During the run-chase, New Zealand lost their young opener, Finn Allen for nine runs in 17 balls to Riazat Ali Shah. But Devon Conway (22* in 15 balls, with four boundaries) showed glimpses of his form and knocked off the rest of the target along with Ravindra (1*) with 88 balls to go.
Squads:
Uganda Squad: Roger Mukasa, Simon Ssesazi(w), Robinson Obuya, Alpesh Ramjani, Kenneth Waiswa, Riazat Ali Shah, Dinesh Nakrani, Brian Masaba(c), Juma Miyagi, Cosmas Kyewuta, Frank Nsubuga, Henry Ssenyondo, Fred Achelam, Ronak Patel, Bilal Hassan
New Zealand Squad: Devon Conway(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman. (ANI)