Tarouba, Trinidad: In the T20 World Cup, New Zealand defeated Uganda by nine wickets with a polished display. The victory was comprehensive but consoling.
Trent Boult (2/7) and experienced quick Tim Southee (3/4), both left-arm bowlers, caused mayhem as Uganda crumbled for a meagre 40 in 18.4 overs, narrowly missing the lowest score in the T20 World Cup by one run.
Uganda had been bowled out for the joint-lowest team total of 39 against West Indies last week. The gulf between them and the top nations has been pretty evident in the tournament.
Opener Devon Conway then fuelled New Zealand's first win of the tournament with the Kiwis knocking off the target in 5.2 overs.
Having lost their opening two games to Afghanistan and hosts West Indies, New Zealand finished outside of the semifinals for the first time in 10 years.
"It was obviously a pretty clinical performance, nice to get a win. Extremely disappointed to play ourselves out of the tournament," player of the match Southee said.
"You look at the side, plenty of experience and we were not at our best in the first two games. We have a proud record in World Cups in the last 10 years and it has now come to an end," he added.
The Kiwis flexed their muscle against debutants Uganda, whose batters continued to struggle in the tournament.
The African side has not gone beyond the 80-run mark in the tournament and concludes with three losses and a win.
"It has been a wonderful experience for us. Obviously, being here first time at this level, just the exposure to the quality players... it has done wonders for the game back home. The whole country has been following our progress, staying up late to watch games. Hopefully, it is a platform we can build on," Uganda skipper Brian Masaba said.
"I have tried to interact as much as I can with the top players, trying to pick their brain. Asking questions like what they did to get better. We are looking forward to what happens next for us, and hopefully this can help get it done," he added.
With the ball swinging prodigiously in the powerplay, New Zealand made the most of it, giving away just 9/3.
Boult set the tone of the match with twin strikes in the first over.
He swung the ball away from a clueless Simon Ssesazi to trap his leg before wicket on the third ball of the innings.
Boult then knocked over Robinson Obuya's stumps on the very next delivery. The 34-year-old, however, was denied a hattrick by Alpesh Ramjani, who negotiated an out-swinging yorker.
Southee claimed Uganda's third wicket fell in the fourth over, as he trapped Ramjani in front of the wickets.
Wickets continued to tumble for Uganda as spinners Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra and pacer Lockie Ferguson joined in on the action.
Southee then returned in the 18th over to claim two more wickets, trapping Fred Achelam and Juma Miyagi's leg before wicket on consecutive deliveries. But like Boult, he too was denied a hattrick.
Kenneth Waiswa was the only Ugandan batter to reach a double-digit score with four of them returning to the dugout without opening their account.
With PTI inputs