Tom Latham on His Century vs Pakistan: “Focused on Partnerships to Build a Big Total

Tom Latham on His Century: The first match of the Champions Trophy 2025 was played between Pakistan and New Zealand on 19 February in Karachi. New Zealand, under the captaincy of Mitchell Santner, has started its campaign with a spectacular win by 60 runs. Batting first in the match, the Kiwi team scored 320 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.

Tom Latham on Match-Winning Knock in Champions Trophy 2025

Chasing the target, Pakistan’s team was all out for 260 in 47.2 overs. New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham scored a century and won the Player of the Match title.

Losing the toss against Pakistan and batting first, New Zealand did not get a good start. Devon Conway (10), Kane Williamson (1) and Daryl Mitchell (10) returned to the pavilion cheaply. After this, the team needed a big partnership, which was completed by the pair of Will Young and Tom Latham. There was a partnership of 118 runs for the fourth wicket between the two players.

Will Young played a brilliant innings of 107 runs in 113 balls with the help of 12 fours and a six. Latham then shared a 125-run partnership with Glenn Phillips for the fifth wicket. Glenn Phillips scored 61 runs in 39 balls. While Tom Latham played an unbeaten innings of 118 runs in 104 balls with the help of 10 fours and 3 sixes. He completed his century in 95 balls.

Also Check: New Zealand Beats Pakistan by 60 Runs in Champions Trophy

Focused on Partnerships to Build a Big Total – Tom Latham

Speaking at the post-match presentation after winning the Player of the Match title, Tom Latham said,

“Yes, of course, it helps when you have played on such a surface before. It felt good to contribute, Will Young played brilliantly and then it was great to reach 320 runs. When I came in, it was about building partnerships. We could have done that and then improved the run rate, and then GP (Glenn Phillips) came in and bowled brilliantly once again.

Gave us the momentum to carry on in the second innings. At the back end, you want to score as many runs as you can. Glad we could do that today. There was less dew today so the ball moved around a lot, it was better to bowl in the second innings in such conditions.”

PAK vs NZ Playing XIs Both Team:

New Zealand’s Playing XI: Mitchell Santner (C), Devon Conway, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (WK), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, William O’Rourke.

Pakistan’s Playing XI: Mohammad Rizwan (C & WK), Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.