AHMEDABAD, India, CMC – Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum formalised a 10-wicket victory for New Zealand over Zimbabwe with an unbroken hundred with opening stand in the World Cup yesterday.
Guptill was unbeaten on 86 and Brendon McCullum was not out on 76, as the New Zealanders, chasing a modest 162, reached their target with 99 balls remaining in their Group-A match at the Sardar Patel Stadium.
Tim Southee led steady bowling from the Black Caps to chortle Zimbabwe for 162 in 46.2 overs after they chose to bat.
Southee finished with three wickets for 29 runs from 9.2 overs, while captain Daniel Vettori and Kyle Mills took two wickets apiece.
Guptill and McCullum then battered the Zimbabwe bowlers into submission, to race New Zealand to their target with little trouble.
Zimbabwe were rocking on 46 for five in the 15th over, after they chose to bat.
Charles Coventry was run out in the second over to start the decline, and the New Zealand bowlers ensured that the Zimbabweans never recovered.
Opener Brendan Taylor defied for a 57-ball 44, and put on 40 with Greg Lamb for the sixth wicket, which stemmed the fall of wickets.
They both fell in the space of 18 balls – Taylor lbw to Scott Styris and Lamb run out for 18 – to leave Zimbabwe wobbling on 89 for seven in the 27th over.
But some lower resistance from Prosper Utseya, with a gritty 36, and Graeme Cremer with 22 limped Zimbabwe to a respectable total.
New Zealand face Pakistan in their next match at the Pallekelle Stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka, this coming Tuesday, two days before Zimbabwe meet co-hosts Sri Lanka at the same venue.
The World Cup continues today, when Sri Lanka welcome four-time defending World champions Australia to their capital city of Colombo for a repeat of the 2007 Final at the Premadasa Stadium.
