Zaman’s ton enough for Pakistan to beat NZ at Cricket World Cup. Australia win confirms England exit

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Australia and Pakistan claimed wins at the Cricket World Cup on Saturday to set up a thrilling finale to the group stage as England’s abject title defense finally came to an end.

Adam Zampa took 3-21 in 10 overs as Australia knocked out England with a 33-run win in Ahmedabad.

In Bengaluru, Fakhar Zaman bludgeoned a 63-ball century as Pakistan handed New Zealand its fourth successive loss — despite the Black Caps topping 400 runs — in a rain-hit game which Pakistan won by 21 runs under the DLS method.

Australia’s frontline pace attack shared six wickets to rout England for 253 runs in 48.1 overs. Ben Stokes provided the resistance with 64 off 90 balls.

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Put into bat, Australia reached 286 all out with three balls left. Marnus Labuschagne scored 71 off 83 while Cameron Green (47), Steve Smith (44) and Marcus Stoinis (35) made useful contributions.

The five-time champions moved to third in the points’ table with 10 points from five successive wins. Australia needs one win from the remaining two games – against Afghanistan on Tuesday and Bangladesh on Nov. 11 – to ensure it reaches the semifinals.

After a sixth loss in seven games, last-place England is mathematically out. With two games remaining, it needs to finish eighth or higher to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy.

Pakistan moved level on eight points with New Zealand, which occupies fourth place in the standings by virtue of a better net run-rate than Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Pakistan, which also lost four games in a row at one stage, can still get into the semifinals, with its last league game against England on Nov. 11.

Zaman’s unbeaten 126 off 71 balls motored Pakistan to 200-1 in 25.3 overs against New Zealand after there had been two rain interruptions in a high-scoring match. That was enough to win under the DLS method.

New Zealand’s star of the tournament, Rachin Ravindra (108), had earlier smashed his third century in the tournament, while Kane Williamson (95) missed out on a hundred on his return as the Black Caps amassed 401-6 after being put in to bat.

New Zealand began the tournament with four consecutive wins against England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the Netherlands, but has now lost to India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan in a shocking turnaround of form.

The Black Caps need to beat Sri Lanka on Thursday in its last league game and hope Pakistan loses to England, or cannot come close to its net run-rate.

Pakistan’s win means second-place South Africa has gained a spot in the semifinals. First-place India had already advanced.

AUSTRALIA WINS

Australia made a poor start when Chris Woakes dismissed in-form openers David Warner (11) and Travis Head (15).

Labuschagne added 75 runs off 96 balls with Steve Smith for the third wicket. Adil Rashid took 2-38 to peg back Australia in the middle overs.

It was down to 117-4 in 23.1 overs, as Labuschagne put on 61 runs with Green for the fifth wicket.

Green and Stoinis helped cross the 200-mark, and Zampa’s 29 off 19 balls helped Australia reach a par score. Woakes finished with 4-54 from 9.3 overs.

In reply, half-centuries from Stokes and Dawid Malan (50) went in vain as England failed yet again to cross the finish line.

Mitchell Starc (2-66) struck twice – Jonny Bairstow was out for a golden duck, while Joe Root fell for 13, both caught behind.

Malan and Stokes added 84 runs for the third wicket to restore parity.

Pat Cummins got the breakthrough by claiming Malan’s wicket and then Zampa applied the squeeze. He made an immediate impact – Jos Buttler’s poor form continued as he holed out for one run.

England was down to 106-4 in 25.1 overs, but Stokes was at the crease. He reached 50 off 74 balls and added 63 off 62 balls with Moeen Ali (42) for the fifth wicket.

Zampa dismissed both batters, with Cummins sending back Liam Livingstone for 2 runs in between.

Australian fielders backed up the bowlers with some great catches, with Zampa himself taking a leaping catch to send back David Willey for 15.

Woakes fought hard with the bat too, scoring 32 off 33 runs.

England played an unchanged eleven. For Australia, Stoinis and Green had replaced Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh.

ZAMAN RECORD TON

“This is one of my best (centuries),” said Zaman after smashing Pakistan’s fastest-ever ton in a World Cup. “We know that every game is do-or-die for us.”

Zaman’s power-hitting kept his side in the hunt in a steep run chase before rain took the players off the field with Pakistan cruising on 160-1 in 21.3 overs, ahead by 10 runs on DLS.

Captain Babar Azam (66 not out) played second fiddle to Zaman, who smashed 11 sixes against pace and spin as the pair stretched their match-winning stand to 194 before the rain returned.

Zaman was ruthless against leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, playing his first game of the tournament. He and Babar plundered three sixes in Sodhi’s penultimate over, which ultimately proved vital.

“We just planned to build a partnership. I wanted to give the strike to Fakhar,” said Babar after scoring his third half-century in eight World Cup games. “We knew we had short boundaries and we tried to utilize it.”

Earlier, Ravindra and Williamson took on Pakistan’s four-pronged pace attack led by the expensive Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, and also didn’t spare the two part-time spinners.

Afridi, who recently rose to No. 1 in the ODI rankings, recorded Pakistan’s worst-ever bowling figures of 0-90 in a World Cup. Rauf was not far behind, ending up with 1-85. Hasan Ali (1-82), who came into the side in place of leg-spinner Usama Mir, also went for plenty.

Ravindra combined with Williamson for a 180-run partnership off 142 balls.

Both batters fell in successive overs, looking for big hits, but New Zealand’s middle-order kept on pushing with Glenn Phillips (41), Mark Chapman (39) and Daryl Mitchell (29) scoring at a rapid pace before Mitchell Santner’s 17-ball 26 not out led the team past 400.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket