New Zealand under 19 cricketer Matt Rowe Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The New Zealand under-19 cricket team overcame a Mankad and a spirited Afghanistan to remain unbeaten at their World Cup in South Africa.
New Zealand beat Afghanistan by one wicket in a low scoring match in East London, chasing down a target of just 92 in the 50-over game.
Matt Rowe followed up a sensational, five-wicket burst inside 16 balls with the winning shot at Buffalo Park that kept New Zealand unbeaten and top of their group.
A run-out at the non-striker's end in the final moments was the major talking point.
Opting to bat first, Afghanistan made just 91 in 21 overs with Rowe taking five for 21 from eight overs.
In 34 balls, Afghanistan lost five wickets for eight runs with Rowe running amok.
The New Zealand speedster, cousin of White Ferns player Hannah Rowe, had Afghanistan on the mat with his spell.
At 54/7, Afghanistan had thrown away their solid start and it was down to the tail to resurrect the innings and get them to the three-figure mark.
That didn't quite happen, but Afghanistan's tail still managed to stick around enough to get into the nineties, eventually getting bowled out for 91.
With a meagre target to defend, Afghanistan threw their trump card, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, the new ball, and the ploy worked.
He sent back three of the top four batters for ducks to reduce New Zealand to 23/3. With the centurion from the last game, Snehith Reddy, absent, New Zealand's top-order struggled to combat Ghazanfar.
New Zealand were then 42 for five before captain Oscar Jackson and Same Clode got them back on track.
After they fell Ewald Schreuder was run out at the non-striker's end, leaving the match tantalisingly poised. New Zealand still needed two runs to win, but only had one wicket left.
Despite the tense atmosphere, Rowe was all calm. He calmly hit the winning runs off the very next ball to script a thrilling win for New Zealand.
Reacting to the non-striker's end run out, spinner Naseer Khan told ICC Digital: "Yeah it is in the rules and that's why I did it."
The New Zealand skipper Oscar Jackson hailed the match as a "great game of cricket" and praised Matt Rowe for his excellent spell.
"It was a great day for bowling and our top bowlers did a great job. Matthew Rowe was just unbelievable today - his control, and line and length were perfect and broke the game wide open for us. After the day he had with the ball, it was always going to be his day [on him hitting the winning runs]."
New Zealand play Pakistan in their next pool game.
