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Will Young Photograph: (X)
New Zealand opener Will Young scored a terrific ton in the first match of the Champions Trophy 2025 tournament. The feat came against hosts Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi on Wednesday. Young, scored his fourth ODI century to make a bright start to the tournament.
The century came in the second ball of the 35th over when the 32-year-old took a single off Abrar Ahmed to reach the mark. The batter was congratulated by Tom Latham for his effort as the rest of the New Zealand teammates and staff stood up and applauded the effort. The innings was appreciated by the commentators as well who noted that the pitch wasn’t easy to bat.
Watch the video here:
100 for will young#ChampionsTrophy2025#PAKvNZpic.twitter.com/5NJfDRCGAT
— champion Trophy 2025 (@ccricket713) February 19, 2025
Will Young had failed to score runs in the Tri-series that involved hosts Pakistan and South Africa as the third side. The right-handed batter scored a total of 28 runs from the three games with a best of 19 runs. His best score of the tournament came versus South Africa at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The 32-year-old became the fourth Kiwi batter to score a century in Champions Trophy after Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle, and Kane Williamson.
New Zealand stage remarkable fightback in opening game of Champions Trophy
Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan had no hesitation in asking New Zealand to bat first after winning the toss. At one stage the Kiwis were placed at 73/3 in the 19th over. Abrar Ahmed dismissed Devon Conway for 10 and then Naseem Shah got the wicket of Kane Williamson for one run.
Daryl Mitchell was dismissed for 10 against the run of play Haris Rauf. From there Tom Latham and Young joined forces to add a century stand for the fourth wicket. Latham in particular finally seemed to find his touch with the bat as he kept scoring boundaries at regular intervals.
Both batters ran well between the wickets and put pressure on the Pakistani fielders. In the fifth ball of the 29th over, Pakistan, though, they had a chance to get the wicket of Young. Pakistan hit the stumps on the full as the Kiwi batter tried to scamper a quick single. The TV umpire saw that Young was safely back in his crease, at that point, Young was batting on 88. Tom Latham then got to his second successive fifty with three runs off Haris Rauf in the fourth ball of the 36th over.