Tournament Top Run Scorers

Tournament Top Wicket Takers

Tournament Most Catches

Tournament Most​​​​​​​ Wicket Keeping Dismissals

Round #1 - New Zealand vs Zimbabwe

​​​​​​​After being asked to bat first by the Zimbabwe captain, the New Zealand top order responded superbly to the challenge. A brisk opening partnership of 40 (Richard Calkin out for 22 in the 8th over) then 63 for the 2nd wicket (captain Craig Gibb out for 40) saw NZ at 103-2 just past the half-way point in the innings. Martin Pike (top scorer with 66) and Mason Robinson (59 off just 37 balls) then piled on the pressure with an 80 run 3rd wicket partnership in just over 10 overs. Channa Weerapperuma assisted the surge with 31 runs from 24 balls to help NZ reach a formidable total of 266-6 after 45 overs.

In reply Zimbabwe tried to maintain the challenging required run rate but lost too many wickets at regular intervals to have any realistic chance of reaching the target. Zimbabwe's best partnership was for the 10th wicket which took them from 70-9 to 104 all out in 37.5 overs for a comprehensive 162 run win to New Zealand. Kusal Eriyagama opened the bowling and was the standout performer with 5-39 off his 9 overs. Andrew Nuttall was at his miserly best with 2-14 off 9 overs. Scott McCallum (1-25 off 7) and Martin Pennefather (1-15 off 8.5 overs) also had impressive spells.

Pictured: Player of the Day was Mason Robinson (left) for his 59 runs (including 5 fours and 2 sixes) plus a catch and stumping at keeper. Kusal Eriyagama (right) was given a special award for his five wicket haul.

Round #2 - New Zealand vs India

​​​​​​​India won the toss and elected to bat first. India's openers made a bright start, reaching 37 in the six overs of the Powerplay and their partnership reached 61 when the momentum shifted with the dismissals of Radhakrishnan and Manjila in quick succession, both to the bowling of Mike Van Staden. Van Staden continued his impressive spell, taking three wickets in the 21st over, including two in consecutive deliveries, further disrupting India's progress. Despite the wickets falling, opener Verinder Bhoombla held one end and reached his half-century in the 27th over. India ultimately reached their 150-run milestone in the 38th over, with Bhoombla nearing his century before being dismissed for 95 in the 44th over, concluding their innings at 197. New Zealand's bowling attack was spearheaded by Mike Van Staden, who was the pick of the bowlers, claiming an impressive 5 wickets for 42 runs in his 9 overs. Ron Heywood (in his NZ Over 60 World Cup debut) also chipped in with two wickets.

Chasing a target of 198, New Zealand started aggressively, scoring 9 runs in the first over. However, India's bowlers managed to stem the flow of runs and pick up the two crucial wickets of skipper Craig Gibb and Martin Pike. Opener Richard Calkin was joined by Mason Robinson and they maintained a run rate sufficient to keep them comfortably ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern projections as the forecast heavy rain was approaching. When Calkin was out for an excellent 64 runs off 83 balls at 141-3 (104 partneship) the job was almost complete. After one more over to reach the second drinks break the rain arrived to end the game and secure the victory for New Zealand, winning by 36 runs courtesy of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculation. Robinson  followed up his half century against Zimbabwe with an unbeaten 48 off 62 balls. 

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Player of the Day for NZ was Mike Van Staden for his 5 wicket haul in the first innings.

Round #3 - New Zealand vs West Indies

The West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl first against a NZ top-order in fine batting form. The NZ openers made a bright start and despite losing Calkin for 6 runs the remainder of the top five assisted skipper Gibb to once again produce a formidable total of 261 all out one ball short of the full 45 over allocation. 

Mason Robinson score his second half-century of the tournament top score with 62 runs off 64 ball to maintain his 100+ strike rate for the tournament.  Channa Weerapperuma hit 7 boundaries in this fine knock of 44 off just 36 balls while Craig Gibb with 35 not out (44 balls) and Martin Pike (30 off 24 balls) continued their good tournament form.

In reply the West Indies made a disasterous start, losing a wicket in the first and third overs (both ducks) in an inspired opening spell from Kusal Eriyagama who took the first three wickets inside the first 9 overs. A 78 run fourth wicket partnership allowed the West Indies to recover, but the required run rate was constantly increasing as the NZ bowlers restricted the scoring. When the 4th wicket fell at 109, 153 runs was still required at nearly 10 runs per over and this rate proved far to much for the West Indies who battled on the reach 183-8 at the end of their 45 overs. A comfortable win (three from three games) to New Zealand by 78 runs.

Eriygama took his tournament wicket tally to 8 wickets with an excellent spell of 3-16 off 9 overs. Fellow opener Scott McCallum picked up 2 wickets for 50 off 9 overs and Mike Van Staden also took 2 wickets (for 33 runs off 9 overs) to reach 7 wickets for the tournament so far.

Round #4 - New Zealand vs USA

New Zealand won their first toss of the tournament and chose to bat first. With captain and opening batsman Craig Gibb not playing, Martin Pike moved up from number to open with fellow Wellingtonian Richard Calkin. Just as the run rate was increasing after a watchful start, Calkin was dismissed for 5. NZ's top run scorer for the tournament, batsman/keeper Mason Robinson, then joined Pike and these two prospered until the 27th over when Pike was dismissed for 37.

Another in-form batsman Channa Weerapperuma continued his great run with a blazing run-a-ball 61 in a partnership of 111 for the third wicket. This included two consective sixes in the 44 th over which contributed 16 runs to the NZ total and with one over to go, Robinson was on 99. He duly completed a fine century with two runs of the second ball of the over and NZ reached a useful total of 222-3 at the end of 45 overs. 

USA began their run chase positively despite the miserly bowling of Kusal Eriygama ( 7 overs for just 13 runs). Fellow opener Ron Heywood then picked up a couple of wickets and despite a promising third wicket partnership, the required rate continued to climb and the evergreen Andrew Nuttall then prospered with the ball, ripping though the middle order with four wickets for 27 runs in his 9 overs. Mike Van Staden's excellent bowling form continued as he cleaned up the tail with three wickets to dismiss USA for 153 at the end of the 43rd over. 

So a fourth win from as many games for New Zealand who have all but assured themselves of a semi-final berth. Next up tomorrow is the top-of-the table clash with England who are also unbeaten with 5 wins.​​​​​​​

Round #5 - New Zealand vs England

New Zealand won the toss in a vital game for both teams and elected to utilise their fine tournament batting form and bat first. However it was evident early on that this would be a very challenging pitch to bat on.

The England bowlers made an immediate impact with both NZ openers dismissed inside 4 overs and just 8 runs on the board. Standout NZ batter and captain Mason Robinson came in at number three but wickets kept falling at regular intervals and NZ was on the ropes at 46-6 in the 19th over. Mike Van Staden assisted Robinson with a vital recovery but when Robinson was dismissed for 42 runs off 86 balls, NZ was still 5 runs short of reaching 100 with just over 10 overs remaining. Some vital "tail-wagging" from Pennefather, Eriyagama and McCallum helped Van Staden (32 off 78 balls) get NZ to hopefully a defendable total of 148-9 at the end of their 45 overs. 

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With a target of just 149 for England, New Zealand knew they had to not only bowl tightly but also most likely get 10 wickets to secure a win and ensure they would avoid playing Australia in the semi-finals. And they made the perfect start with Kusal Eriyagama getting a wicket in the first over thanks to a sharp stumping from Robinson. England was batting as if they were playing a T20 or perhaps applying their own version of 'Bazball' on a difficult wicket. This allowed the run rate to advance well ahead of the required rate but also allowed NZ to pick up regular wickets. 

At 78-7 in the 25th over, NZ must have felt confident they could finish off the innings well short of the target which was still 71 runs away for England. After a vital 32 run partnership for the 8th wicket, England then lost two wickets in three balls to leave them teetering at 110-9 and 39 runs needed for the final wicket in just over 8 overs. 

The final partnership took England through to the final over needing 5 runs to win when the England number 11 clipped a half-volley from Van Staden to mid-on and Scott McCallum dived to his left to take an excellent catch and give New Zealand the victory by just 4 runs. 

NZ's Player of the Day was Dean Askew who mixed some loose deliveries (11 wides and one no-ball) with many unplayable balls to pick up 5-49 off his 9 overs. Eriyagama continued his fine tournament form with 3-28 off 9 overs and Andrew Nuttall had to be treated with the utmost respect from the England batters in a wonderful 9 over spell taking one wicket and bowling 4 maidens while conceding just 7 runs.

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A nail-biter for everyone involved and barring a massive loss to Scotland in their final game, New Zealand will finish top of Group B and most likely face Pakistan in the semi-final round. 

Round #6 - New Zealand vs Scotland

NZ once again rested their captain Craig Gibb for this game as well as in-form keeper-batsman  ans vice-captain Mason Robinson to give both the opportunity to be fit for the semi-final game tomorrow. Andrew Nuttall captained the team today. 

​​​​​​​On a pitch far more condusive to run-scoring than the game against England, NZ made a bright start with opener Martin Pike (44 off 60 balls) and Richard Calkin (39 off 58 balls) putting on 79 for the 1st wicket at just over 5 runs per over. Ken McKnight contributed a bright 22 off 20 balls before Brent Fleming (80 not out off 84 balls) and Marty Pennefather (38 off 30 balls) combined for an unbroken 6th wicket partnership of 89 in just under 12 overs to see NZ through to a fine score of 260-5 at the end of their 45 overs. 

The chief bowling destroyers for NZ against England (Kusal Eriyagama and Dean Askew) continued in the same vein in Scotlands reply to have them 27-3 off 7.3 overs. An excellent 4th wicket partnership of 112 for the 4th wicket kept Scotland in the chase but mounting scoreboard pressure saw the wickets fall at regular intervals and Scotland were ended their 45 overs well short of their target at 194-9. The wickets were shared with two each to Eriyagaga, Askew, Nuttall and Pennefather. A win to New Zealand by 66 runs and along with Australia from Group A ending as the only two teams with a 100% record of 6 wins from 6 games in group play. 

New Zealand expect to have a fully fit squad to choose their 12 players from for tomorrow's semi-final clash with Pakistan. 

SEMI-FINAL - New Zealand vs Pakistan

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat which looked to be very much the wrong call when they lost four wickets for just 12 runs inside five overs. The middle and lower-order then consolidated and Pakistan ground their way to eventually reach 192-8 off 45 overs. A commendable recovery to post what seemed like a very competitive score on a wicket offering variable bounce and taking a decent amount of turn. 

For New Zealand, all six bowlers took a wicket with Dean Askew the most successful with 2-28 off 6 overs and Kusal Eriygama, Andrew Nuttall, Mike Van Staden, Marty Pennefather and Craig Gibb taking one wicket each.

New Zealand's reply did not start well with captain Craig Gibb holing out to mid-off for a duck in the first over without a run on the board. Martin Pike joined Richard Calkin and from this point New Zealand made steady progress towards their target with consecutive partnerships of 40, 31, 39, 24, 24 and 34 and every batsman from number 2 to number 8 reaching double figures.

With the scores tied and NZ 6 wickets down, they lost two more wickets to make things tense, before Marty Pennefather score the winning single with 8 balls to spare. Mason Robinson continued his wonderful form with 57 runs (70 balls) and other vital contributions came from Ken McKnight (35 off 32 balls) and Martin Pike (32 off 57 balls). 

So it was a complete team effort to ensure a semi-final win for New Zealand with every player making a positive contribution. England upset Australia in the other semi-final meaning New Zealand will play England on Sunday to decide the winner of the 2026 IMC Over 60 Cricket World Cup.