ICC World Cup 2019: Very Special To Earn Ourself A Final At Lord's - Matt Henry

New Zealand produced an outstanding effort with the ball to book a final berth on July 14 beating India by 18 runs in the first semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2019 at the Old Trafford in Manchester. Matt Henry, who starred with the ball, said that it is a good feeling to play the final at the Lord’s.

Special feeling to play the final at Lord’s: Henry

Batting first, half-centuries from Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor helped New Zealand propelled to 239 runs in rain-marred first innings. India started well picking early wickets before Kane Williamson shred two important stands with Henry Nicholls and Ross Taylor took the team over 200-run mark before rain forced to call the game off. Jasprit Bumrah was outstanding on day one well supported by Ravindra Jadeja before rain stopped play in 46.1 overs at the score of 211 runs.

Also read: Ravindra Jadeja Sets Twitter On Fire With Stunning Fifty Against New Zealand

Resuming on the reserve day, Ross Taylor and Tom Latham relied mainly on ones and twos before a brilliant piece of fielding got Taylor out while he tried to sneak in the second run. In the very next delivery, Jadeja grabbed a stunner in the deep to dismiss Latham to keep the run-rate under check. New Zealand managed to add only 28 runs to post a target 240 of in front of India.

While it looked like an easy chase, Matt Henry and Trent Boult started well reducing India to five for three. Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant revived early but New Zealand kept coming at them chipping in wickets at regular intervals. Hardik Pandya and Pant added 47 runs before Pant threw his wickets playing his rash shot. Ravindra Jadeja played a blinder of an innings alongside MS Dhoni but the Kiwis pacers were right on the money well supported by Mitchell Santner to book a final date at Lord’s.

Also read: Bye Bye Beta Kohli, Says KRK As New Zealand Dominate India In Semifinal

Speaking at the end of the game, Matt Henry said

In the break, we talked about making sure we do the best we can and play the we wanted to play. We started well with the ball and created a lot of pressure. We had to ask a lot of questions against that world-class batting line-up. We knew we had to create pressure against that batting line-up but we also knew that this was a difficult wicket to bat on and it was holding up a little bit. We brought ourselves on and if we could create a few early chances, anything could happen. Hardik and Dhoni, the way they batted with Jadeja to come in, we know they are world-class finishers. We needed to finish off well and get them out before it went too deep. Very special to earn ourselves a Lord’s final, thanks to all the New Zealand supporters out there. We are looking forward to the final on Sunday.