New Zealand make it three from three as they easily deal with Afghanistan

New Zealand celebrate a wicket during their win over Afghanistan

New Zealand made it three wins from three starts as Jimmy Neesham and Lockie Ferguson found form with the ball in a seven-wicket win against Afghanistan. Neesham (5-31) and Ferguson (4-37) ran through the top and middle order as Afghanistan were bowled out for 172.

Despite losing Martin Guptill first ball and Colin Munro cheaply, New Zealand coasted to their target with 17.5 overs to spare.

Captain Kane Williamson led the way with an unbeaten 79 from 99 balls.

It was a convincing win for New Zealand to go alongside their 10-wicket and two-wicket victories against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively.

Williamson and Ross Taylor (48) added 89 for the third wicket, ensuring the Black Caps were well on course to win before the new permanent floodlights at Taunton could take full effect.

But despite taking a two-point lead at the top of the table, they arguably missed out on further boosting their net run-rate by making ponderous progress to the target of 173, taking until the 25th over for Taylor to hit their first six of the innings.

New Zealand could be joined at the top on six points by Australia if they beat India at The Oval on Sunday.

Afghanistan fell to their third defeat in three, falling short with the bat and proving error-prone in the field once again.

That was despite some entertaining flourishes at the top of the order from Hazratullah Zazai (34) and Noor Ali Zadran (31) and a gutsy 59 from Hashmatullah Shahidi.

Seamer Aftab Alam also showed his potential, taking all three of New Zealand's wickets to fall.

But they were hampered by the loss of leg-spinner Rashid Khan midway through the game with a head injury, caused when he was hit on the helmet and bowled for nought after ducking into a short ball from Ferguson.

Much of the talk surrounding New Zealand's two wins before this game centred around the potency of new-ball pairing Matt Henry and Trent Boult.

With another green-tinged wicket to bowl first on and cloudy skies above, it looked set for more of the same.

But it was first-change seamers Neesham and Ferguson who shined after Henry and Boult went wicketless in the opening powerplay.

Neesham, 28, a player who contemplated retirement just 18 months ago as form and fitness deserted him, turned the game firmly in his side's direction as Ferguson provided unerring support from the other end.

Afghanistan have enjoyed a rapid rise up through the associate nations divisions and their elevation to Test status in the past year has made theirs a fairytale story.

After losing big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad to injury for the rest of the tournament before this game, it meant a new opening partner for Hazratullah in Noor Ali.

The pair plundered the boundaries off Henry and Boult to guide them to 61-0 at the end of the first powerplay.

But after the euphoria came the comedown.

Neesham and Ferguson's partnership reduced them from 66-0 to 70-4 and after a couple of short rain breaks, it became 109-6.

But there was to be one shining light with the bat as Hashmatullah showed he could stick around and then bat with the tail to reach his eighth ODI half-century.

Despite batting for the longest of their three innings to date, Afghanistan were dismissed at the start of the 42nd over. Of greater concern looking ahead would have been the manner in which Rashid was both dismissed and subsequently unable to play any further part in the game.

He ducked into a short ball from Ferguson that unfortunately ricocheted off his helmet grille and on to his off stump.

It denied the Taunton crowd a chance to see the leg-spinner try and force a win for his side.

He will continue to be monitored by team doctors in the lead up to their next match against South Africa on Saturday, 15 June. THE STAR

Jimmy Neesham celebrates on his way to taking five against Afghanistan

Jimmy Neesham returned the best figures of the tournament so far, and also only his second five-wicket haul at any level in the format finishing with 5/31, to jump to the first spot on the wicket-takers list at this years World Cup. THE MOMENT

Jimmy Neesham made an immediate impact for New Zealand

Kane Williamson throwing the ball to Jimmy Neesham changed the course of the match. With Afghanistan cruising at 0/61 when first given the ball, he struck with his 5th ball removing Hazratullah Zazai. Ferguson struck two balls later, and Neesham in his second and third overs of his spell. Quickly Afghanistan were left decimated at 4/70 and the game had been turned on it's head.

THE FAILURE

New Zealand celebrate Rahmat Shah's wicket to cripple Afghanistan to 3/66 after being 0/66.

Comprehensively outplayed, it would be hard to single out one particular player for their performances, so it will be the twin wickets of Noor Ali Zadran who fell at 2/66 and Rahmat Shah for a duck with the score still on 66. Their joint failure to move the score past 66 meant that Afghanistan lost their first three wickets at the same score, which completely changed the course of the match.

WHAT NEXT - Afghanistan take on South Africa on Saturday, whilst New Zealand take on the might of India on Thursday. TONIGHT - India take on Australia from The Oval