AFG VS NZ - Match 13, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

20:41 Local Time, 19:41 GMT, 01:11 IST: A few moments to take away from this match. A few phases too - particularly the Afghanistan batting in its initial phase. Despite a number of drops, Zazai and Noor Ali looked the part and made the Kiwis nervous. However, the slide after that, which also included the loss of Rashid Khan for the day (hit on the grill by a bouncer, failed two concussion tests), certainly shut out the light completely on the Afghans. The Kiwis continued to be clinical, and have toppled over some of the lighter oppositions. They have a few days off before they take on the heavyweights, and that's when their mettle will be tested. That's that, then, from the Cricbuzz studio, as our team - Sagar, Shashikant, Akshay, Ramki, and yours truly, Rishi, signs off for the day. Do join us for a potentially enthralling encounter tomorrow between two of the titans of modern-day cricket - India and Australia. Ciao!

Kane Williamson | New Zealand captain: It was an outstanding effort. There are some world-class players in the Afghan side. I have played with a number of them for a few years. They got off to a good start and it was important to build some pressure in the middle-overs, and the way the seamers came back in the middle-overs was fantastic - pace, bounce and a bit of movement did it for them. Lockie doesn't need a lot of encouragement to turn up the speed. He has been fantastic in the three games so far. The left and right-arm combination helps up top and Neesham hitting the wicket hard with the bounce, pace and the movement - the same with their opening bowlers. The fielding, I think, was great from us. The batting improved from the last match. We have chased three games in a row and we are trying to chase some of the lower targets on surfaces that, if you're put under pressure, you can pick up wickets. It is important to build the partnerships in those situations. Every game you play, you set out to win it, and it's great to have three wins in a row to start with. We have a couple of days off now, and then we have India after that so we need to adapt to new venues, which is the nature of tournament sport, but the guys will be looking forward to it.

Gulbadin Naib | Afghanistan skipper: We started really well. Hazrat and Noor were great with the bat. We misread the length of the ball, some of us batsmen, and we threw our wickets away early. So credit to the Kiwi bowlers. We have to play out 50 overs, and it is important for us to stay at the wicket. Our bowlers started well. The wickets did not support the fast bowlers, so we missed out on Rashid. I just tell the boys to keep calm, and show a little more composure in the middle. We missed out on saving some boundaries too and we were not great in the field, so we have a long way to go - the improvement at this high level of cricket will happen day by day.

Jimmy Neesham | Man of the Match (5/31): Pretty pleased with my performance today. Afghanistan put us under pressure very early with the bat, but we knew we had the ability to dent them even after the start they got. The chase was clinical, obviously. Our home conditions are lower and slower, but the bouncy conditions suited me personally to be honest. I let a few external voices affect my bowling, and I went back to my forte today - hitting the deck hard, and not trying to swing the ball too much.

20:19 Local Time, 19:19 GMT, 00:49 IST: New Zealand have won all three games and are sitting atop the points table. But their remaining games are against tough opponents. You may as well say their tournament begins now. But credit to them for maintaining a healthy net run rate. 173 was always going to be easy for Williamson and Co. and the captain himself led from the front. Afghanistan actually got off to a very good start, but they slumped from 66/0 to 70/4, thanks to Neesham, who later went on to claim his maiden ODI fifer. Lockie Ferguson finished with four wickets, while Hashmatullah scored a fifty to stretch the total to 172. In reply, Guptill was out first ball and Munro departed fairly early, but Williamson and Taylor ensured the going was smooth. KW hit the winning runs having completed his 38th ODI fifty.

Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run, that's it! Convincing, easy seven wicket win for New Zealand. Aftab Alam bowls a friendly ball down the leg-side, Williamson helps it down to fine leg to complete the formalities

Hamid to Latham, no run, past the edge. Latham wanted to cover-drive this ball, but it moved away late

Hamid to Latham, no run, short delivery on the stumps, Latham ducks under it

Hamid to Williamson, 1 run, rises tall and defends this short of length delivery with soft hands to gully. Scores level

Hamid to Latham, 1 run, enough width to guide the ball to third man

Hamid to Williamson, 1 run, leg byes, short of length delivery rising extra, Williamson misses the flick and it rolls to short fine leg off the thigh pad

Hamid to Latham, 1 run, high full toss, just under the waist, Latham sends it to fine leg

Aftab Alam to Latham, 1 run, short delivery, Latham pulls to deep mid-wicket

Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run, neatly guided to third man

Aftab Alam to Latham, 1 run, full and angled in, Latham gets an inside edge on the glance and it rolls to fine leg

Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run, leading edge as Aftab Alam gets it to move away late when Williamson was looking to flick through mid-wicket, stopped at backward point, batsman rushes for a run

Aftab Alam to Latham, 1 run, short delivery, pulled to deep mid-wicket

Aftab Alam to Williamson, 1 run, full and on the leg stump, Williamson flicks it behind square to fine leg

Aftab Alam [7.0-0-38-3] is back into the attack

Hamid to Latham, no run, beats the bat. This one moves away off the seam and surprises Latham on the defensive push, almost took the edge