Pacer Adam Milne hailed New Zealand’s ruthless attack after his side convincingly beat Afghanistan to seal their semi-final spot at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Milne took one for 17 from four excellent overs and joined fellow seamers Trent Boult (3/17) and Tim Southee (2/24) in making life difficult for the Afghanistan batters in Abu Dhabi. Having restricted their opponents to 124 for eight, New Zealand were guided home by an unbroken 68-run stand between Kane Williamson and Devon Conway which secured their Group 2 qualification.
Milne is relishing being part of his side’s feared attack and believes their versatility will stand them in good stead in the last four, where they will play either England or Australia.
“It was pleasing to have a good performance for the whole bowling unit. The way Timmy and Trent started us off really brought a great intensity to the start of the bowling spell and then I was able to continue on that, which was good,” said Milne in an official ICC release.
“The attack gives Kane Williamson a lot of options. We’ve also got Jimmy Neesham, who bowled really well. We’ve got Daryl Mitchell we can bowl and Glenn Phillips who can bowl. There are lot of guys on the team that can offer something when required,” he added.
Milne was not part of New Zealand’s original 15-man squad for the tournament but has seized the opportunity given by Lockie Ferguson’s injury.
And having missed the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals and final due to an injury of his own, the paceman is hoping to play a key role this time around as New Zealand look to add T20 glory to the ICC World Test Championship they won earlier this year.
“Obviously to come from the reserves and be part of the World Cup now is pretty special, and to qualify for the semi-finals, it’s a great moment. Looking forward to the semi-final, we can put on a performance and make it into the final,” said Milne.
“In T20 cricket, it’s important to put a full team performance in. Obviously the bowling group has been doing well as a group. But in T20 cricket, any one day a few guys can have their day. It’s important as a group we bowl well, restrict and try to be aggressive and then obviously with the bat we’ve been pretty clinical so far. So hopefully that can continue,” he added. (ANI)
