Fresh from stunning hosts Australia in their opening match at the Twenty20 World Cup across the Tasman, the Black Caps play Afghanistan on Wednesday night.
They’ve made the trip down from Sydney to Melbourne and will be looking to make it two wins from two at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Here’s all you need to know ahead of Wednesday’s clash.
Stuff
The Black Caps play Afghanistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday night.
The game
Twenty20 World Cup: Black Caps v Afghanistan
Where: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia; When: Wednesday 9pm [NZ time]
Live coverage: Sky Sport 1, live updates on Stuff
The squads
Black Caps: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Ish Sodhi, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Afghanistan: Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Salim Safi, Usman Ghani
The odds
Black Caps $1.17, Afghanistan $4.55
The history
The Black Caps and Afghanistan have met precisely once in international T20 cricket – at least year’s World Cup in the United Arab Emirates where New Zealand chased down their target of 125 with eight wickets in hand 11 balls to spare.
Kane Williamson’s side come into Wednesday’s match on the back of their emphatic first-up win over hosts Australia in Sydney, while Afghanistan made a meagre 112 against England in Perth, but made them bat for 18.1 overs to chase it down.
The talk
Black Caps seamer Trent Boult: “We’re obviously scouting them at the moment and getting ready to face a quality side. They’re very experienced players. Definitely not an opposition that we’ll be taking lightly. They’ve got guys that can clear it out of the stadium, and they have a very good bowling attack, as well”.
Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi: “Everyone knows that if we scored 150 [against England], it would be a totally different game and also our team knows that if we score that, then we can defend it as a bowling group.”
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