Mitchell Santner-led New Zealand will eye to turn the fortunes when they start their Champions Trophy campaign against host Pakistan in Karachi in the tournament opener on February 19. New Zealand, placed in Group A along with India, Bangladesh and host Pakistan, will look to clinch their second Champions Trophy title after 2000. However, in the recent ICC tournaments, the team has established itself as a force to reckon with in the title battle.

As New Zealand eye their maiden Champions Trophy triumph, here’s a SWOT analysis from IANS of the Kiwi side to give a clear perspective of their squad combination.

Strength: New Zealand’s unbeaten run in the Tri-Nation Series against Pakistan and South Africa have them a perfect head start ahead of the eight-team marquee tournament. On paper, batting seems to be their biggest strength, with veteran Kane Williamson showing sublime touch while Will Young and Devon Conway are expected to give a promising start to the innings in the absence of injured Rachin Ravindra, who is progressing well after sustaining a head injury against Pakistan last week.

With Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell in the middle order, they have enough batting depth to hammer any opponent in the tournament.

Weakness: With injury ruling out pacer Ben Sears while speedster Lockie Ferguson is still recovering from his hamstring, he sustained during the ILT20, where he was leading the Desert Vipers. After the retirements of Trent Boult and Tim Southee last year, New Zealand will be without their experienced duo and the fresh injuries further shrunk their pace arsenal.

In addition, Ravindra’s head injury ahead of the big tournament is a setback for the side, which is already battling with injuries. Meanwhile, the opener is expected to be fit to play a part in the tournament, but the balance of the side is expected to be affected due to his absence.

Opportunity: Santner, a left-arm spinner with 117 ODI scalps, is the most experienced bowler in their side and on slow and turning Pakistan and Dubai pitches, he will be a crucial cog in their bowling line-up. The one positive thing for the side is their all-round abilities, with Phillips and Ravindra also able to contribute with the ball.

On the other hand, the pace trio of Jacob Duffy, Will O’Rourke and Nathan Smith will have a chance to rise up to the occasion and fill the void of experienced veterans following their retirements. Ferguson’s availability will be a major boost for the side in their title hopes.

Threat: One of the major tasks for the Blackcaps will be to weather the middle overs on the spin-friendly sub-continent pitches. With Williamson leading the potent batting attack, it will be interesting to see how other Kiwi batters will keep the scoreboard ticking on tricky conditions.

New Zealand squad: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Jacob Duffy, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young.

Pace bowler Will O’Rourke claimed four wickets while Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham hit half centuries as New Zealand defeated Pakistan by five wickets to clinch the tri-nations series final on Friday. O’Rourke’s 4-43 helped the tourists dismiss Pakistan for 242 in 49.3 overs before Mitchell’s 58-ball 57 anchored the chase as the Black Caps finished on 243-5 in 45.2 overs at Karachi’s National stadium. The victory gives the New Zealanders a timely boost ahead of the Champions Trophy opener against the same opponents at this venue on Wednesday.

New Zealand lost opener Will Young in pacer Naseem Shah‘s first over for five before Devon Conway (48) and Kane Williamson (34) steadied the chase with a second wicket stand of 71.

Williamson lost his wicket while charging down the wicket against spinner Salman Agha while Naseem returned for his second spell to dismiss Conway.

At 108-3 the tourists’ chase wobbled but Mitchell found an able ally in Latham (56) as the two added 87 for the fourth wicket.

When Mitchell fell caught and bowled off spinner Abrar Ahmed the tourists needed just 48 runs which Latham and Glenn Phillips (20 not out) reduced to ten.

Mitchell hit six boundaries in his knock while Latham’s 64-ball innings featured five fours.

Naseem was the pick of an otherwise ineffective Pakistan bowling attack with 2-43 off eight overs. 

“It is nice to win tonight,” said New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner. 

“Different guys stepping up at different times is good but it means nothing till we play that first game at the Champions Trophy.”

Losing captain Mohammad Rizwan gave credit to New Zealand’s bowlers.

‘Lost our way’

“We were looking at a target of 280 plus but their bowlers put a squeeze on us,” said Rizwan. 

“We ended up 15 runs short as my wicket was crucial and we lost our way.”

Earlier, spinners Santner (2-20) and Michael Bracewell (2-38) backed up O’Rourke to ensure Pakistan did not post a big total.

Rizwan top-scored with a 76-ball 46, while Salman Agha hit 45 off 65 balls as slow and variable bounce on the National stadium pitch proved tough for batting.

Pakistan lost opener Fakhar Zaman to O’Rourke in the fourth over for 10 and then Saud Shakeel for eight.

Babar Azam looked good for his 29 runs, hitting four boundaries and a six, and reached 6,000 runs scored in one-day internationals when he was on 10.

He was playing his 123rd innings, the joint fastest to reach the 6,000-run milestone with South African Hashim Amla.

Azam fell to a miscued shot off Nathan Smith, leaving Pakistan struggling at 54-3.

Rizwan and Agha, who shared a match-winning 260-run partnership against South Africa on Wednesday, then revived the innings with an 88-run stand.

Rizwan hit four boundaries and a six but he and Agha fell within 19 runs of each other to end any hope of a challenging total.

Tayyab Tahir hit a 33-ball 38, also with four boundaries and a six, while Faheem Ashraf (22) and Naseem (19) added 39 invaluable runs to get Pakistan past 240.

Brief scores:

Pakistan 242 all out in 49.3 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 46, Salman Agha 45; W. O’Rourke 4-43) v New Zealand 243-5 in 45.2 overs (D. Mitchell 57, T. Latham 56; Naseem Shah 2-43)

Result: New Zealand won by five wickets

Toss: Pakistan

New Zealand ripped through Sri Lanka’s top order Wednesday to win the rain-reduced second one-day international in Hamilton by 113 runs and clinch the series. Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana took a hat-trick as the home side posted 255-9 off 37 overs, but the tourists could only muster 142 all out off 30.2 overs in response. It followed New Zealand’s comfortable nine-wicket win in Wellington to go 2-0 up in the series, with the third match to be played in Auckland on Saturday.

Sri Lanka’s top order has misfired badly in both games.

They slumped to 22-4 at Seddon Park, leaving little chance of reaching their target of 256 in a match reduced to 37 overs each because of early rain.

Kaminu Mendis top-scored with his ODI best of 64 off 66 balls, but fell to a spectacular running catch from Daryl Mitchell from the bowling of Will O’Rourke to seal Sri Lanka’s fate.

Janith Liyanage‘s 22 was the next best score in a Sri Lanka chase marred by two run-outs and a series of risky shots that didn’t pay off.

O’Rourke was too quick for the tail, taking 3-31 off 6.2 overs while Jacob Duffy was responsible for some of the early damage, claiming 2-30, including the key scalps of Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis.

Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said their run target should have been achievable.

“I think it was a fair score for batsmen in this kind of small ground, and it’s a fair pitch,” he said.

“I think again the bad batting in the power play cost us the game.”

Earlier, recalled off-spinner Theekshana capitalised on some wayward New Zealand hitting to finish with 4-44 off eight overs.

He removed Mitchell Santer and Nathan Smith with successive deliveries at the end of the 35th over.

The hat-trick was completed — all from mistimed lofted shots — when Matt Henry was caught off the first ball of the final over.

It helped to pull back a New Zealand innings which threatened to surpass 300 when opener Rachin Ravindra raced to 79 off 63 balls and Mark Chapman scored 62 off 52.

The pair put on 112 for the second wicket, ending when Chapman holed out to long-off from Theekshana.

Ravindra departed soon afterwards, caught brilliantly at short cover by Asalanka off leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (2-39).

Ravindra, who struck nine fours and a six, believed his balanced batting style was tailored for the 50-over format.

“I do enjoy the ODIs, although you don’t see as many games happen anymore, but it’s a format I grew up watching, and I think it suits the way I bat,” said the 25-year-old, who scored 45 in the first match.

“I think it’s a nice, natural tempo being able to go out there and play cricket shots.”

NZ v ENG LIVE Updates, 3rd Test Day 2© X (Twitter)

New Zealand vs England 2nd Test Day 2 Live Score Updates© AFP

New Zealand came out to bat late in the final session, before rain forced early stumps.© BCCI

File image of Virat Kohli.© BCCI/Sportzpics

Matt Henry and William O’Rourke picked nine wickets collectively to bowl out India for just 46 on day two of first Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. With this, India have now recorded their lowest total at home and third lowest Test score overall. This was the first time in 91 years (since India’s first home Test in 1931) that they scored less than 50 in an innings. Under overcast condition, Henry exhibited great control on line and length to pick 5-15 and also reached the landmark of 100 Test wickets. O’Rourke, playing in his first Test in India, made a fantastic impression with his awkward bounce and mixing of lengths to pick 4-22 while veteran pacer Tim Southee took a scalp.

For India, right from them electing to bat first amidst downpour threats, things backfired spectacularly. With no grass on the pitch, they picked three spinners for the first time in this season, with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj being the only pacers.

But with conditions heavily favouring an accurate New Zealand bowling line-up and backed up brilliantly by their fielders, India didn’t show the desired batting application to grind it out against swing or seam and fell without doing much. Only Rishabh Pant (20) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) reached double figures in a sorry Indian batting show laced with five ducks.

Captain Rohit Sharma was far from his fluent best and even survived an lbw appeal on umpire’s call off Matt Henry. But in a bid to step out against a masterly Tim Southee, Rohit was castled through the gate while going for a big drive against the inswinger.

Virat Kohli’s surprising promotion to number three, after Shubman Gill was ruled out due to neck stiffness, earned him vociferous chants from the sparse crowd at his adopted home ground.

But it was brought to a quick end when O’Rourke got extra bounce on a nip-backer which Kohli looked to defend, but it took the glove edge to forward leaping Glenn Phillips at leg-gully, as he departed for a nine-ball duck.

More trouble followed India as Sarfaraz Khan tried to counterattack with a forceful lofted drive, but ended up mis-hitting off Henry to Devon Conway at mid-off, who stuck out his right hand and took a stunning catch. Pant was a curious mix of caution and aggressiveness, including trying to reverse-sweep off Henry, before rain brought a halt to the proceedings.

After play resumed at 11:05am, Pant and Jaiswal got a boundary each to try and rebuild India’s innings. But O’Rourke struck again as Jaiswal went hard on the cut and was caught brilliantly by backward point diving low to his left.

One brought two for the pacer as he strangled KL Rahul, supposed to bat at three, down leg for a six-ball duck, and was followed by Ravindra Jadeja being bizarrely too early into the flick and gave a high leading edge to backward point off Henry as New Zealand walked off the field as the happier side at lunch.

Post lunch, Henry struck on the very first ball by catching shoulder edge of Ravichandran Ashwin and the ball lobbed to gully. He then enticed Pant into tentative defence and edged to second slip. O’Rourke had Bumrah heaving to long leg, before Henry ended the Indian batting horror show by having Kuldeep Yadav caught at gully to cap off a brilliant time for New Zealand with the red cherry.

Sri Lanka vs New Zealand 1st Test Day 2: Live Score Updates© AFP

New Zealand included promising seamers Will O’Rourke and Ben Sears on Monday in their Test squad to face Afghanistan and Sri Lanka as the Black Caps look to bounce back from their T20 World Cup debacle. New Zealand play Afghanistan next month in a one-off Test in Noida, India, before facing Sri Lanka away in a two-Test series in late September. It will be the Black Caps’ first cricket since crashing out of the T20 World Cup in the group stages last June following a shock defeat to Afghanistan.

O’Rourke and Sears are set to play their first overseas Tests. O’Rourke, 23, took nine wickets for 93 on his debut against South Africa in February. Sears, 26, debuted in March with five wickets in a defeat to Australia.

“It’s always great when young guys force their way into squads through performance,” said New Zealand head coach Gary Stead.

“I know Will and Ben are really looking forward to the challenges of Test cricket in the sub-continent,” he said in a statement.

All-rounder Michael Bracewell returns to the Test squad for the first time since injuring his Achilles tendon, then breaking a finger. He played one-day internationals in Pakistan last April and was in the T20 World Cup squad.

“Michael’s had to show plenty of resilience to rehabilitate his injuries and force his way back into the Black Caps across all three formats,” Stead said.

World-class batsman Kane Williamson has also been included in an experienced top order alongside veteran openers Devon Conway and Tom Latham.

Stead has opted for five spin options in Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Bracewell and Glenn Phillips.

The three September Tests begin a busy four-month period for New Zealand, who play three games against India in October and November before hosting three games with England in December.

New Zealand Test squad: Tim Southee (captain), Tom Blundell, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Kane Williamson, Will Young