Indian players shine as NZ beats Australia in O40I tournament

New Zealand has defeated Australia by 2-0 in the historic Over-40s International series held in Christchurch. The tournament that began on 19 February lasted for a week, with two warm-up games followed by three O40I matches.

This victory marks an incredible achievement for the New Zealand over-40s cricket team, who put up a fantastic performance against their Australian counterparts. It was a thrilling series of cricket, with both teams showing remarkable skills, dedication, and commitment.

The three Kiwi-Indian players participating in the tournament- Vishal Dube, Hardeep Singh and Deepak Joon all contributed with their skills to help New Zealand post the win.

The historic tournament which was the first O40I played anywhere in the world had the International Masters Cricket Committee Chairman, Stirling Hamman, present at the occasion.

Jim Morrison, Director of NZ Over-40s Cricket said, “The series was a wonderful way to start over-40s cricket around the world. We hope that the success of this series will attract new players, supporters and sponsors to this amazing new format of cricket.”

New Zealand won the first O40I match by six wickets. The second match was washed out without a ball bowled due to damp pitch.

The second and final O40I match saw New Zealand win by 43 runs. James Marshall’s 70 runs and Adam Hastilow’s 3/13 helped New Zealand finish at 232/9. Australia’s Over 40s Cricket scored 198, and the New Zealand team won the series 2-0.

Commenting on the win, Vishal Dubey told Indian Weekender, “Winning the tournament was the best feeling and for most of us it was realising our dream to play and to represent the country in over 40s cricket.”

“I want to thank Jim for organising the event and making it a memorable experience and Rhys Henderson, the team manager, for taking excellent care of the team, allowing them to focus solely on cricket and Our team physio Graham who made certain the boys were ready for their next game despite the most challenging aspect of the tournament for us was being match fit. We are now looking forward to the first-ever over40’s world cup.”