Kiwis crush Zimbabwe, move into semis

Prem Panicker

New Zealand, with star player Chris Cairns playing no more than a marginal role in the game, defeated Zimbabwe by 64 runs, and will now face Pakistan in the semifinals on Wednesday.

There, that is the story of the day, easily told.

I don't know how it strikes you, but on the day the ICC Knockout Tournament began, I was looking forward to a series of exciting contests. After all, this was supposed to be the tournament that brings the ten Test-playing nations together, with Kenya of course adding to the mix, in a do or die format.

And yet, what we have got, so far, is just one exciting contest -- the India-Australia face off, which swung this way and that and got close to the wire before the final decision. The rest have been entirely one sided. Sure, you expect a few lopsided games when teams like Bangladesh and Kenya go up against the bigger boys. But surely, the quarterfinals at least should be tight, tense affairs?

That is not what we have been getting, though, and frankly, I dont have a clue why. More so, given the nature of the ground and the pitch -- no uneven bounce, alarming swing and seam, nice ideal batting conditions, very short boundaries (ever seen so many square cut sixes before, in any single competition?).

And yet, four out of five games so far have been non-events. Strange!

I was expecting a keen contest here -- New Zealand has strength on paper, while Zimbabwe have recently beaten them on home soil. Both teams field brilliantly. Both teams, in fact, are more suited to the one day than the Test format.

And yet the most exciting thing that happened was a wind coming out of nowhere and knocking umpire David Shepherd's hat 30 yards.

The game was played on a new pitch, nice and hard, and ideal for batting. Heath Streak won the toss, and opted to bowl, figuring that if at all there was any help to be had for the bowlers (and as Zimbabwe's main bowler, that is what he would have uppermost in mind), it would be early, with a bit of dew on the track.

Zimbabwe started off well when Nathan Astle had a crack at a ball outside off and Grant Flower at cover took a very well judged catch. They would have been in even better shape, had the keeper not reacted late, in the very next over, to an uppish flick down the leg side by Stephen Fleming off Streak. The very next ball saw Streak produce a beauty of a lifter to get Spearman's edge, only for Paul Strang at first slip to grass the chance.

From then on, things went pretty much New Zealand's way. The wickets kept falling, but equally, the runs were coming and in a nice even flow. There seemed to be a little hiccup when a brilliant bit of fielding by Guy Whittall caught the on-song Fleming out of his ground, but Roger Twose was in good touch, and played a rock steady knock to steer the Kiwis out of the woods, making up for Chris Cairns who, seemingly not fully recovered from a knee injury that kept him out of the recent Kiwi-Zimbabwe series, seemed lacking in footwork as he slashed a catch to point.

Streak made things a touch harder for himself by messing up the bowling rotation. Henry Olonga had a superb over against India at the death in the World Cup, but more often than not he has tended to disappear -- and "disappear" is a good adjective for the first two balls of his last over, both clubbed by Parore out on the on side for huge sixes.

265 on the board was a good ask -- thus far, no team has chased anything in excess of 240 successfully, in this tournament (a thought perhaps for India to keep in mind, in the semifinals?). The Zimbabweans, though, had the batting to do it with -- provided they could hold their nerve. Luck seemed to be favouring them, too, when Shayne O'Connor put down a sitter at third man off Carlisle in the 11th over, and a couple of overs later, muffed a simple caught and bowled as well.

Zimbabwe got even more lucky when Chris Cairns bowled one over, struggled throughout, and limped off the field.

But then it all went horribly wrong. Alistair Campbell was in superb touch, and had guided Zimbabwe to 88 in the 20th over, when Chris Harris got him on the pad. Trouble was, the strike was on the front pad, and outside the line of off stump -- a bad decision by Umpire Steve Bucknor, and Campbell's fury was clearly evident in the way he marched off muttering to himself.

Bad luck caused Campbell's downfall. Bad play did for the rest of the team. Andy Flower, to Wiseman's innocuous off spin, shaped to play to leg, but tentatively, and off the leading edge, gave the spinner a caught and bowled. Brother Grant came out and before he had even settled, played a most ridiculous reverse sweep, and was bowled. Guy Whittall looked in brilliant touch, but from the non-striker's end, took off like a rocket to a ball that was going straight to the fielder, and was run out by a mile. Carlisle, after batting patiently right through, cut at one from Wiseman that was too close to the body, and edged to the keeper....

I'll cut a sorry story short -- Zimbabwe failed to apply themselves, and lost. It was inexplicable, really -- Zimbabwean cricket is not so much about incandescent individual talents, as it is about hard-nosed professionalism and cent per cent effort in the field and with the bat. Today they lacked on both counts, and found themselves knocked out by a New Zealand struggling for full form and fitness.

New Zealand now play Pakistan on Wednesday, in the semifinals, and will be hoping that Chris Cairns is mobile by then. But before that, there is the other quarterfinal -- England versus South Africa, tomorrow. Which should be a cracker -- but then again, given what has happened in this tournament so far, who knows?

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Mail Cricket Editor