New Zealand bowler Lockie Ferguson praised the bowling conditions at Brian Lara Stadium after his historic spell of 4-4-0-3 against Papua New Guinea in the T20 World Cup amidst the disappointment of an early exit from the T20 World Cup. Ferguson’s performance was nothing short of magical as he registered the most economical bowling figures in the history of the ICC T20 World Cup, and became only the second bowler in T20Is to bowl 24 dot balls without conceding a run.

His sensational spell was instrumental in restricting PNG to a mere 78 runs, with every New Zealand bowler chipping in to take wickets.

Reflecting on the match, Ferguson appreciated the challenging nature of the wicket. “Yeah, no, no runs today. But yeah, look, obviously a tough wicket to bat on. Coming from the IPL, where there were a lot of runs being scored, it’s nice to have a wicket like that for a change,” he said in a video posted by the ICC on their social media.

The bowler acknowledged that such days are rare and cherished the opportunity to exploit the conditions. “It was just one of those days. You could see when our boys went on it as well. So I guess from a bowling point of view, nice to be able to bowl on wickets like that. But I can’t see it happening too many times.”

Despite his personal success, Ferguson was candid about the team’s premature exit from the tournament. He expressed his disappointment while also praising his teammate Trent Boult, who played his final T20 World Cup match.

“Look, I love playing for New Zealand. I’m just really disappointed we got knocked out the way we did. But at the same time, really enjoyed playing with this group of guys. Obviously, Boulty (Trent Boult) with his last game today. It’s going to be sad not having him with the group, but it’s been an incredible career and certainly been nice to sort of follow him in every game. So, I wish him all the best,” he said.

Ferguson’s sentiments reflected a bittersweet moment for the team as they bid farewell to Boult, a stalwart of New Zealand cricket. “It’s a tough one. Now we’re sort of going apart as a team for a few months. So, naturally, you’re gonna miss your good mates and look forward to touching base later in the year,” he said.

New Zealand chased down the modest target set by PNG with ease, reaching 79-3 within 13 overs.

Lockie Ferguson (3/0) bowled the most economical spell in T20I history as New Zealand shot out Papua New Guinea for a mere 78 in their inconsequential Group C World Cup match on Monday. Ferguson joined Canada skipper Saad Bin Zafar as only the second bowler in T20I history to have sent down each of the allotted four overs as maiden, returning figures of 4-4-0-3 after the latter recorded 4-4-0-2.

The Kiwis were successful in keeping the PNG batters quiet and pinned to their respective ends for the majority of their innings which folded in 19.4 overs, with the first half witnessing the ball racing to the ropes for boundaries only on four occasions.

Lockie needs to hesitate

He’s got zero chill. Literally ‘ZERO’ https://t.co/jTVxi5H2xD pic.twitter.com/5P6dXydZW3

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) June 17, 2024

Trent Boult (2/14), playing in his last T20 World Cup match, began with a two-run first over but it was Tim Southee (2/11) who drew the first blood, getting PNG opener Tony Ura caught at deep backward point.

While there was no success for Boult in terms of wickets with the new ball, Ferguson struck on his very first ball to have PNG skipper Assad Vala caught at widish first slip for six.

Ferguson continued to trouble the opposition batters to such an extent that PNG could not score a run off his first three overs.

The right-arm pacer had further success when he pinned Charles Amini (17) in front of the wickets successfully for the third wicket.

Mitchell Santner (1/17) cut short the progress of Sese Bay (12), getting him caught by Finn Allen at long on after luring the batter to dance down the track and hit him but the connection was improper.

Having not conceded a run yet, Ferguson found an inside edge off Chad Soper’s (1) bat crashing into the wickets after he recklessly dangled his bat which came down awkwardly away from his pads.

Ferguson finished his spell without having conceded a run and thus joined Zafar, who was the first to have bowled all four maidens in November 2021 against Panama in T20 World Cup Americas Region Qualifier.

Boult came back into the attack for his first wicket of the contest to clean up Hiri Hiri (7) while Southee bagged another in the next to remove wicketkeeper-batter Kiplin Doriga (5) out of the equation.

Having toiled for success in his first three overs, Ish Sodhi (2/29) grabbed a couple of wickets to wrap up the PNG innings in the last over.