New Zealand had a cake walk against Kenya in their first match but Australia brought them back to where they belong by thrashing them by 7 wickets in Nagpur. Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat under over-cast conditions. Jamie How replaced Jacob Oram for New Zealand while Australians went unchanged.
New Zealand needed to see off the Australian pace threat initially but they were helplessly unable to handle the pace and swing. Brendon McCullum after getting two fours off Shaun Tait went for another one but was snapped by Krejza at third man. Guptill was undone by a Watson delivery which did not rise at all and cannoned into the stumps. Ryder who was playing freely until then departed after nicking behind off Mitchell Johnson. He made 25 off 31 balls which included as many as 6 boundaries. Three balls later Johnson did the same to James Franklin, who strangely came to bat at number 5 ahead of How and Styris. Scott Styris gave Haddin his third catch when he played well away from his body against Tait. The demolition did not end there as New Zealand’s best batsman, Ross Taylor was magnificently yorked by Tait. At 73 for 6 in the 17th over, they were looking to head the Kenya way themselves but Jamie How and Nathan McCullum weathered the Australian storm.
Nathan and captain Vettori provided late order resistance and ensured New Zealand has something to defend. McCullum top scored with 76-ball 52 (3 fours) while Vettori made 44 off 43 balls with 5 fours. They were all out for 206 runs in the 46th over. For Australia Johnson was the main destroyer with 4 for 33 while Tait took 3 wickets for 35 runs.
New Zealand needed to do what they did against Kenya i.e. to take early wickets, but Australian batting quality was in sharp contrast to the Kenyan’s. Opening pair of Brad Haddin and Shane Watson denied them early wickets by astute batting display. Although New Zealand opened with Tim Southee and Vettori, they could not put any pressure on the batsmen. Haddin was batting in his natural fluent style while Watson milked the bowling. They brought up Australia’s hundred in just 14 overs. Watson then opened up and punished Vettori with 3 fours in one over. Vettori later had a chance to remove him but substitute fielder Williamson dropped easy catch. Haddin was first to go for a well made 55 (50 balls, 8 fours) at the score of 133. He was deceived by an extra-slow bouncer by Hamish Bennett. Two balls later Watson edged another slower one from Bennett onto his stumps to lift Black Caps a little bit. His 61-ball 62 included 6 fours and a six.
Ricky Ponting played sluggishly till he had another moment of frustration when he was smartly stumped by Brendon McCullum off a slow wide delivery from Southee. It was an interesting bit of action, the replay of which Ponting might not have been able to watch in his dressing room, for obvious reasons.
Australia chased down the target in the 35th over winning the match by 7 wickets. Slowly and gradually Australia are coming back to their winning ways. New Zealand, on the other hand, are fast turning into nothing more than a minnow.
Match Result: Australia 207/3 (Watson 62, Haddin 55; Bennett 2/63) beat New Zealand 206 all out (N McCullum 52, Vettori 44; Johnson 4/33, Tait 3/35) by 7 wickets
Man of the match: Mitchell Johnson
Published in SportPulse.net
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