On Monday, New Zealand’s pacer, Lockie Ferguson, bowled four maiden overs in their last T20 World Cup 2024 match against Papua New Guinea at Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba, Trinidad. The speedster also grabbed three wickets in the process.
Ferguson (4-4-0-3) is the first player to achieve this rare feat in the T20 World Cups and only the second after Canada’s Saad Bin Zafar (4-4-0-2) in T20 Internationals.
4️⃣ OVERS 4️⃣ MAIDENS 🤯
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) June 17, 2024
Lockie Ferguson becomes the first bowler in Men's #T20WorldCup history to bowl four maidens in a match 👏#NZvPNG | Read On ➡️ https://t.co/zOfpaMPB18 pic.twitter.com/zqE8ADZEt0
Ferguson was deployed in the fifth over of the innings after Kane Williamson opted to bowl in the rain-delayed game. The right-arm pacer immediately impacted, dismissing PNG skipper Assad Vala in the first ball of his spell. Sese Bau faced the successive five balls without scoring any runs, followed by six dot balls during his second over.
Ferguson returned to the attack in the 12th over of the innings, and trapped Charles Amini for 17 runs in the second ball of the over, courtesy of a successful review from the Black Caps. He went on to rattle Chad Soper’s stumps on the second ball of his final over, claiming his third wicket. PNG managed to score 2 runs in the final over of Ferguson, but they were given leg-byes and hence weren’t added to Ferguson’s figure.
The relentless bowling from 33-year-old Ferguson resulted in PNG being skittled for a paltry 78 runs in 19.4 overs. The Kiwis chased down this total with 7 wickets and 46 balls to spare, finishing their World Cup journey with a win.
Ferguson was named Player of the Match for his historic bowling spell, and the pacer said in the post-match presentation that the wicket was tough to bat and nice from his point of view to get on a wicket like that.
New Zealand had a poor outing in this T20 World Cup, with defeats at the hands of Afghanistan and the West Indies in their first two games confirming their early exit from the tournament.
Best economy rate in an innings in T20Is:
[4-4-0-3] – Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand) vs Papua New Guinea, 2024*
[4-4-0-2] – Saad Bin Zafar (Canada) vs Panama, 2021
[2-2-0-1] – Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka) vs Netherlands, 2014
