? NZ 206; Australia 207 for 3
? Australia win by seven wickets
? Read our over-by-over report
No nail-biting climaxes here. Australia thrashed New Zealand by seven wickets with 16 overs to spare. At best the conclusion was that the Kiwis were distracted by the terrible events in Christchurch; at worst here was a pitiful performance by a limited side.
The Kiwis now head for Ahmedabad for an entire week before they have a chance to exorcise a nightmarish performance. Australia, minus Doug Bollinger who is out of the World Cup with an ankle injury, go to Sri Lanka to play again in eight days' time. Both sides will dread such a long delay and it is ridiculous that they should have to wait such a long time.
Overnight rain and some cloud cover persuaded Ricky Ponting to desert his original plan and bowl first. When the Kiwis were 66 for two in the 14th over it was not obvious whether the insertion was justified. Then Australia were gifted three wickets in the space of nine balls through an ugly assortment of wafts outside the off-stump. Soon after Ross Taylor was more legitimately beaten by Shaun Tait's pace and New Zealand were 73 for six.
There was a recovery of sorts via Nathan McCullum and Jamie How. The beleaguered captain, Daniel Vettori, in his idiosyncratic way, then flickered with the tail and New Zealand mustered 206. Almost five overs were unused by the Kiwis, which saved Ponting and his men a likely fine for their slow over rate.
The New Zealanders are usually such canny cricketers. There is no need to take the game too vigorously to the likes of Tait and Mitchell Johnson since they naturally leak runs. Australia's weakest link lies with their spin bowlers, yet by the time they were introduced five batsmen were back in the pavilion and those who remained had to bat with discretion against the unlikely Australian spin twins, Jason Krejza and Steve Smith.
Tait and Johnson in harness are the most mesmerising pace combination in the tournament because you never know what might happen. They are fast and aggressive; they hunt for wickets not maidens and they did not have to hunt for long. Jesse Ryder, James Franklin and Scott Styris offered limp bats and easy catches to Brad Haddin behind the stumps.
Johnson, probably relishing the absence of the Barmy Army, took ? or was donated ? four wickets and now has eight in the tournament from 18.3 overs. Tait showed all sides of his bowling character: wides, no-balls and wickets, all at express pace.
Ponting credited his fast bowlers for bringing up their second successive win of the tournament and singled out the left-armer for special praise. "Johnson was outstanding," the Australia captain said. "Brett [Lee] has been bowling well for over three months now. Tait has been impressive since the time he returned to the side. We said, at the start of the tournament, if our fast bowlers bowl as well as they can, it can't matter who we play."
Haddin and Shane Watson sprinted from the blocks and by the time they were parted in the 19th over, the sting had long been removed from this match. There was a brilliant leg-side stumping from Brendon McCullum to remove Ponting, but no reports of an intermission in the television coverage in the Australia dressing room upon his return.
Michael Clarke and Cameron White gently shepherded Australia home. This took Australia's unbeaten sequence in World Cup games to a formidable 31.
It was impossible to gauge how much the earthquake in Christchurch had affected the performance of New Zealand, who are usually so tenacious in this fixture. It was, regrettably, another forgettable game, far too one-sided to excite a reasonable crowd.
The most memorable moment took place in between the innings when the two teams joined in a group huddle, in which the Australia and New Zealand players stood side by side in a minute's silence. This was instigated by Ponting, who wanted to demonstrate that his side were all too aware of the heartache that the Kiwi players and their nation were experiencing. It was a simple and effective way of sharing their sympathy and a rare and moving sight in the middle of a humdrum game of cricket.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/feb/25/shane-watson-australia-new-zealand-world-cup
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