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Summary
- New Zealand win toss & put Afghanistan in to bat
- Day-night match at County Ground, Taunton
- NZ top table after winning opening two games
- Afghanistan lost to Australia & Sri Lanka so far
- Follow in-play clips & TMS commentary (UK only)
Live Reporting
By Callum Matthews
All times stated are UK
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Phil Long
BBC Test Match Special statistician
Copyright: Getty Images
Image caption: India beat Sri Lanka by 157 runs in 1999 – great kit! This is the second time these teams have met in ODI cricket – New Zealand won by six wickets in the World Cup in 2015.
The last World Cup game played here in Taunton saw Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid add a then-record partnership of 318 for India!
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Jeremy Coney
Ex-New Zealand captain on BBC Test Match Special
The pitch looks greener than usual, it’s patchy. We know that the surface down here is pretty good, generally I’ve seen 350 runs scored here by Somerset. It is a short ground, nowhere near as big as Cardiff or The Oval where New Zealand have played so far.
If the ball grips a bit it will be an interesting game. Mohammad Nabi has bowled beautifully so far for Afghanistan.
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Afg 18-0
That’s a much better second over from Matt Henry.
He gets one to jag back and it raps Noor Ali Zadran on the pad. There’s a brief appeal but that’s far too high.
Two from it.
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Adam Williams
BBC Sport at Taunton
Fair play to the two volunteers who get the job of holding those inflatable globes with the country’s flag on it during the national anthems.
Both of them had to contend with sudden gusts across the ground in the middle of both of them.
New Zealand’s Tim Southee went up to the guy to his left to shake his hands and congratulate him on his strength in holding on once the Afghanistan anthem had finished!
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Afg 16-0
Good first over from Trent Boult, bang on the money throughout.
After exchanging singles, Noor Ali squirts through the covers for a couple.
Good start from Afghanistan, this.
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Boult’s rapid left-armers are going to get us under way with the second new ball.
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Jeremy Coney
Ex-New Zealand captain on BBC Test Match Special
Opener Hazratullah Zazai is a clean striker of the ball and if he gets his eye in these short boundaries are not going to be a problem for him at all.
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Afg 12-0
Good comeback from Matt Henry as he induces a prod outside off stump from Hazratullah but it goes through to Tom Latham behind the stumps.
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Afg 12-0
Four more.
This time it’s a bit streaky as a top edge from Hazratullah flies over the slip cordon.
And again! There’s nothing streaky about that as the left-hander pummels a pull to the mid-wicket boundary.
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Afg 4-0
Afghanistan are off and running.
It’s short and a leggy from Henry and Hazratullah just helps it on its way to the fine leg boundary.
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Matt Henry, who has taken seven wickets in New Zealand’s first two games, will get us under way.
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Shahzad ruled out of World Cup
Copyright: Getty Images
There’s a change at the top of the order for Afghanistan today after they dealt a big blow earlier this week with wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad ruled out of the rest of the World Cup with a knee injury.
Since the 2015 World Cup, Shahzad is his country’s second highest one-day international run-scorer with 1,843.
“Obviously it’s a big loss of our side,” captain Gulbadin Naib said.
“Shahzad is a great player for Afghanistan.
“He is very energetic.
“Also in the dressing room he’s very funny. Also he entertains every time the team members. So we miss a lot of things of him especially in the ground even.
“I am really upset for him.”
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The national anthems are done and dusted and the Afghan openers Noor Ali Zadran and Hazratullah Zazai are getting padded up while the New Zealanders have their huddle.
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People are taking photos of the national anthems. Has that always been a thing?
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The two sides are just making their way onto the outfield ready for the national anthems.
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Over in Cardiff, England are set for a big total against Bangladesh – they are 273-3 with 10.3 overs left.
Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler are at the crease for the hosts. Follow live text commentary and clips of the conclusion of the hosts’ innings here.
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Jeremy Coney
Ex-New Zealand captain on BBC Test Match Special
New Zealand have had three of the easier sides to open up – that’s fair to say. They can ease their way into the tournament but it means that they have a tough run coming up.
They would certainly expect today to put together a performance. The bowlers were more than adequate against Sri Lanka, the slight quesion is the fifth bowler as Jimmy Neesham has been leaking runs.
He needs a good performance.
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A run fest?
Copyright: PA
Taunton is traditionally a high-scoring ground with short straight boundaries.
In the four One-Day Cup games this season the team batting first scored 358, 353 (off 39 overs), 216 and 289.
While the average score in ODI’s at the ground is 312.
Will we get runs today? Let’s hope so.
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‘I’ve not seen that before!’
Jason Roy has just fallen for a superb 153 for England in Cardiff.
Here’s how he reached his century and clattered into umpire Joel Wilson in the process.
Well worth a watch.
Video content
Video caption: Roy smashes into the umpire while bringing up his century -
Tune in
BBC Test Match Special
Test Match Special as usual will be bringing you ball-by-ball commentary at Taunton today.
The team consists of Dan Norcross, Simon Mann, Bryan Waddle and they are joined by Jeremy
Coney, Ramiz Raja and Pommie Mbangwa.Tune in now using the audio icon at the top of the page.
