New Zealand charge to 10-wicket win

Martin Guptili

(cricinfo)
Ahmadabad. New Zealand wrapped up a thumping 10-wicket win over Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad, surpassing the Zimbabweans in every department to set up a victory that will reinvigorate their World Cup campaign. They started by making light work of a timid batting line-up, Tim Southee picking up 3 for 29 as four of the top seven failed to reach double figures and Zimbabwe limped to 162. Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum then sealed the result with the highest opening stand of this tournament and New Zealand's best in World Cups, as the target was overhauled with more than 16 overs to spare.
New Zealand went into this game level on points with Zimbabwe, the teams ranked fourth and fifth in Group A with one victory and one defeat each and separated only by net run-rate. Beating Zimbabwe, especially considering the sheer scale of their win, means that, in all probability they will need only one more victory to book a place in the quarterfinals, with a game against Canada in hand.
Zimbabwe talked themselves into a corner before this game, letting anyone who would listen know that they were targeting New Zealand in a must-win match. Their words seemed to build more pressure on themselves than the opposition, however, and the batsmen froze under the weight of expectation to reach a challenging total after captain Elton Chigumbura won the toss and decided to bat.
The rot started as early as the second over for Zimbabwe, Charles Coventry setting off for a non-existent single to the second ball he faced and not even bothering to dive as Hamish Bennett's throw from mid-on hit the stumps directly. New Zealand looked like the more inspired team from the start, maintaining intensity and energy with the ball and in the field, and they soon had Zimbabwe in even deeper trouble when Tim Southee recovered from the disappointment of having Tatenda Taibu dropped at mid-off to pin him in front of middle and leg with his very next ball to reduce them to 27 for 2 in the eighth over.
Some inventive captaincy from Vettori was backed up by his bowlers' discipline, Craig Ervine falling to a well thought-out off-side trap, and Vettori also took no time to win the battle with his opposite number, dismissing Chigumbura with his first ball of the match. He added another scalp in the same over, Regis Chakabva flapping haplessly to slip as Zimbabwe slid to 46 for 5 in the 15th over. All the while Brendan Taylor had looked like his team's most composed batsman, cracking four boundaries to enter the 40s and keep Zimbabwe afloat. When he missed a full, straight delivery from Scott Styris to be out for 44 their hopes of setting a challenging total had all but evaporated.
Graeme Cremer and Prosper Utseya's stubborn rearguard was ended when Mills found the edge of Cremer's bat for 22, but Ray Price did at least manage to stick around long enough to help Utseya take the score past 150. Southee, who found appreciable reverse swing with a scuffed up old ball, swung one into Price's pads to remove him for 11 and two overs later rattled Utseya's stumps with another inswinging delivery to end the innings.
Guptill and McCullum's plan appeared to be to deny Zimbabwe's slow bowlers any early breakthroughs through utmost caution and attack the seamers on a placid pitch. Without a decent total on the board, Zimbabwe's spinners were unable to create any pressure to force a breakthrough, and both batsmen simply waited for the bad ball to put away.
Guptill started in a hurry against Tinashe Panyangara, smashing 14 off from his first six balls and lofting two imperious sixes as his first three overs were dispatched for 25. In comparison, Price's first three yielded just nine, with barely a shot played.
Whatever pressure there might have been at the start of New Zealand's chase - and if there was any, it was minimal - quickly dissipated and even though the spinners maintained generally tight lines, the docile pitch meant there were few alarms for the batsmen. New Zealand eased past fifty in the 12th over with a brace of boundaries off Price and after he had been seen off, with both batsmen settling in, offspinners Utseya and Greg Lamb were easily milked.
With his options severely limited by the under-par total, Chigumbura simply ran out of ideas and the white flag was waved when the field was set back to allow easy singles on both sides of the wicket. Guptill, who proved the more aggressive of the two, punched one into the covers to bring up a 68-ball half-century in the 22nd over and the batsmen barely broke a sweat in bringing the 100 up shortly afterwards.
The match was practically over as a contest at that point and Zimbabwe simply went through the motions as the runs continued to flow, 21 runs from Elton Chigumbura's three overs hastening the end. McCullum reached his own half-century, from 74 balls, and New Zealand cantered home in the 34th over in a flurry of boundaries.
While New Zealand could not have asked for a better team performance, a fighting defeat might at least have spurred the Zimbabweans on to believe they could still take down Sri Lanka or Pakistan. The nature of their capitulation will have sapped the morale from their campaign, however, and they will do well to follow Chigumbura's advice after he said he hoped his side would forget the defeat quickly and move on.
----------------------------------------

score card

	Zimbabwe innings (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	BRM Taylor	lbw b Styris	44	106	57	4	0	77.19
	23.1 Scott strikes, out of nowhere, nippy full offcutter from Styris, Taylor was taken completely by surprise, can't blame him after all those gentle trundlers Scott served up before this one, he wafts across the line as this one darts in on the toes, Styris gets the decision in his favour instantly, no reviews left for Zimbabwe anyways 86/6
	CK Coventry	run out (Bennett)	0	7	2	0	0	0.00
	1.2 from Southee, direct hit from mid on, and Coventry is in trouble. Fuller delivery from Southee, moving away from middle and off, Coventry gets half forward and drives without much timing to mid-on. Bennett does reall well, charging forward, swooping on the ball and under-arming into the sticks at the bowler's end. Coventry was not running full-tilt. He wasn't stretching fully. He's caught short by half a foot or so. 2/1
	T Taibu†	lbw b Southee	8	28	18	1	0	44.44
	7.4 Southee probably doesn't have to wait long for redemption. Zimbabwe have refered an lbw appeal that was upheld. Southee gets this one to bend in with the angle, from back of a length around off stump. Taibu tries to work it towards the onside after moving the front foot into line, and almost falls over as he looks to play around the pads. It slips past the bat and thuds into the foam. Looks hopelessly adjacent. Taibu never wanted to refer that, but went through on Brendan's insistence. Zimbabwe have wasted a review. 27/2
	CR Ervine	c Ryder b Mills	11	25	25	2	0	44.00
	12.6 and Ervine has perished to the cordon. The odds of finding these gaps are not very high, and Ervine pays the price for hitting in the air again. Short ball, just outside off, a delivery that deserved to be cut, but not with this field. Ervine cracks it off the middle and it flies straight to Ryder at backward point. Easily pouched. Zim are stuttering. 42/3
	E Chigumbura*	lbw b Vettori	1	9	4	0	0	25.00
	14.1 Captain gets captain first ball. Or has he? Elton reviews a potentially controversial lbw decision. Tossed up on middle, back of a length and it straightens. Here's the catch - Elton has charged a mile out of his crease. Ok, may be not a mile, but 2.5 metres for sure. The replays say it pitched on the line of the stumps, hit in front of middle as Elton misses the chip to the leg side. The potentially questionable predictive powers of Hawk-Eye (since he was well out of the crease) say it was hitting leg stump. It is back to umpire Erasmus, and he, like Billy Bowden the other day, sticks to his decision. Only, this time, it is out. 46/4
	RW Chakabva	c Taylor b Vettori	0	3	2	0	0	0.00
	14.3 this is turning into a nightmare for Zimbabwe, as if all the troubles were not enough, Rosco pulls off a blinder now, Dan gets Chakabva to reach outside off and go for the drive, the edge flies to the right of Taylor at slip, who puts out his right hand quickly and takes it cleanly, Dan has struck twice in his opening over 46/5
	GA Lamb	run out (Guptill/Vettori)	18	46	34	1	0	52.94
	26.6 Vettori to Utseya, and this is really the last thing Zimbabwe wanted, really is, what a shame, it was guided towards backward point, Lamb wanted the single very badly, he was more than half way towards Utseya when he turned him back, no chance he was to make it back, the throw came in flat to Dan, who was in front of the stumps, and removed the bails in a diving motion, even as Lamb's dive was in vain 89/7
	P Utseya	b Southee	36	95	65	3	0	55.38
	46.2 that will do, Southee homes in on full on leg stump, and Utseya's swing across the line cannot prevent it from crashing in to the base of the wood, Southee sees the ball has done the job, and turns back in an everyday matter-of-fact way 162/10
	AG Cremer	c †BB McCullum b Mills	22	43	43	1	0	51.16
	36.6 Mills gets him finally, it was closer to off stump this time, much fuller too, he went for the drive, and got a healthy outside edge through to the keeper 122/8
	RW Price	lbw b Southee	11	27	19	0	0	57.89
	44.1 Southee bellows and pleads at the same time, and gets the decision he wanted, it was full and came in to strike him on the pads, he was nowhere near it with the bat, and that would have taken out leg stump, one more to go 157/9
	T Panyangara	not out	4	13	9	1	0	44.44
	Extras	(lb 4, w 3)	7
	Total	(all out; 46.2 overs; 202 mins)	162	(3.49 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-2 (Coventry, 1.2 ov), 2-27 (Taibu, 7.4 ov), 3-42 (Ervine, 12.6 ov), 4-46 (Chigumbura, 14.1 ov), 5-46 (Chakabva, 14.3 ov), 6-86 (Taylor, 23.1 ov), 7-89 (Lamb, 26.6 ov), 8-122 (Cremer, 36.6 ov), 9-157 (Price, 44.1 ov), 10-162 (Utseya, 46.2 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	KD Mills	10	0	29	2	2.90	(1w)
	12.6 to Ervine, and Ervine has perished to the cordon. The odds of finding these gaps are not very high, and Ervine pays the price for hitting in the air again. Short ball, just outside off, a delivery that deserved to be cut, but not with this field. Ervine cracks it off the middle and it flies straight to Ryder at backward point. Easily pouched. Zim are stuttering. 42/3 36.6 to Cremer, Mills gets him finally, it was closer to off stump this time, much fuller too, he went for the drive, and got a healthy outside edge through to the keeper 122/8
	TG Southee	9.2	3	29	3	3.10	(2w)
	7.4 to Taibu, Southee probably doesn't have to wait long for redemption. Zimbabwe have refered an lbw appeal that was upheld. Southee gets this one to bend in with the angle, from back of a length around off stump. Taibu tries to work it towards the onside after moving the front foot into line, and almost falls over as he looks to play around the pads. It slips past the bat and thuds into the foam. Looks hopelessly adjacent. Taibu never wanted to refer that, but went through on Brendan's insistence. Zimbabwe have wasted a review. 27/2 44.1 to Price, Southee bellows and pleads at the same time, and gets the decision he wanted, it was full and came in to strike him on the pads, he was nowhere near it with the bat, and that would have taken out leg stump, one more to go 157/9 46.2 to Utseya, that will do, Southee homes in on full on leg stump, and Utseya's swing across the line cannot prevent it from crashing in to the base of the wood, Southee sees the ball has done the job, and turns back in an everyday matter-of-fact way 162/10
	HK Bennett	8	0	37	0	4.62
	DL Vettori	10	3	25	2	2.50
	14.1 to Chigumbura, Captain gets captain first ball. Or has he? Elton reviews a potentially controversial lbw decision. Tossed up on middle, back of a length and it straightens. Here's the catch - Elton has charged a mile out of his crease. Ok, may be not a mile, but 2.5 metres for sure. The replays say it pitched on the line of the stumps, hit in front of middle as Elton misses the chip to the leg side. The potentially questionable predictive powers of Hawk-Eye (since he was well out of the crease) say it was hitting leg stump. It is back to umpire Erasmus, and he, like Billy Bowden the other day, sticks to his decision. Only, this time, it is out. 46/4 14.3 to Chakabva, this is turning into a nightmare for Zimbabwe, as if all the troubles were not enough, Rosco pulls off a blinder now, Dan gets Chakabva to reach outside off and go for the drive, the edge flies to the right of Taylor at slip, who puts out his right hand quickly and takes it cleanly, Dan has struck twice in his opening over 46/5
	SB Styris	4	0	13	1	3.25
	23.1 to Taylor, Scott strikes, out of nowhere, nippy full offcutter from Styris, Taylor was taken completely by surprise, can't blame him after all those gentle trundlers Scott served up before this one, he wafts across the line as this one darts in on the toes, Styris gets the decision in his favour instantly, no reviews left for Zimbabwe anyways 86/6
	NL McCullum	3	0	15	0	5.00
	JD Ryder	2	0	10	0	5.00

	New Zealand innings (target: 163 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	MJ Guptill	not out	86	114	108	7	2	79.62
	BB McCullum†	not out	76	114	95	6	2	80.00
	Extras	(lb 1, w 1, nb 2)	4
	Total	(0 wickets; 33.3 overs; 114 mins)	166	(4.95 runs per over)

Did not bat JD Ryder, LRPL Taylor, JEC Franklin, SB Styris, NL McCullum, DL Vettori*, KD Mills, TG Southee, HK Bennett

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	T Panyangara	5.3	0	42	0	7.63	(1nb)
	RW Price	7	0	23	0	3.28
	P Utseya	6	0	23	0	3.83	(1nb)
	GA Lamb	5	0	18	0	3.60
	AG Cremer	7	0	38	0	5.42
	E Chigumbura	3	0	21	0	7.00	(1w)