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Cricket PlayersSeifert, Allen guide NZ to record-breaking win
Tim Seifert's 89 off 42 led New Zealand to a 10-wicket win over UAE, setting a T20 World Cup record with a 175-run opening stand.
Kolkata: Tim Seifert has had his share of highs. Against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; on pitches lush and abrasive; against spin and pace; under the pump or just setting up innings with insane hitting. So, it isn’t exactly news when he goes at a strike rate of over 200 in an unbroken 175-run opening stand—the highest in T20 World Cup history—on a flat Chepauk pitch, that too against an inexperienced bowling like that of UAE, one of the bowlers once almost getting maimed by a full-blooded straight drive from Finn Allen.
You expect clean hitting from them, but not with the kind of clarity that ends a chase in 15.2 overs and absolutely dismantles UAE after their courageous innings. But it wasn’t the only talking point of the match that the Kiwis won by 10 wickets.
The other happened much earlier and involved Mark Chapman, who didn’t have to come out to bat. At the deep midwicket fence in the 15th over, Chapman had been challenged by a slog sweep from the gutsy Alishan Sharafu, batting on 55. The ball reached him in 4.1 seconds, and almost got the better of Chapman in full stretch. He still plucked it, and on realising he was going over, threw the ball to Daryll Mitchell for a relay catch, all within a second.
The best fielding sides—and New Zealand is right at the top—practice these catches these days, sometimes under the lights just to raise the difficulty level. But in a live match, with a near capacity stadium buzzing in his ears, this was bordering on the freakish from Chapman.
Suryakumar Yadav clinched a similar catch in the 2024 T20 World Cup final, a solo effort with a brilliant rebalancing effort treading the boundary skirting with South Africa desperately needing that six to stay alive in the chase. The stakes weren’t as high here but Chapman’s presence of mind to throw the ball back to where Mitchell was standing is why fielding in cricket can be a spectator sport in itself.
Apart from the insanity of it, the catch also broke the only partnership worth mentioning from the UAE. A 107-run stand with captain Muhammad Waseem—he was unbeaten on a 45-ball 66—against a quality bowling attack like New Zealand helped the team reach its first 100 in just 72 balls. UAE ticked all the boxes they could have on their way to scoring their highest T20 World Cup score.
But the New Zealand openers hammered 78 runs in the Powerplay, Seifert (89 off 42 balls) reaching his fifty off 23 balls and Allen (84 off 50 balls) in 27 as UAE were reduced to being helpless facilitators of a sensational batting display.
