Just What The Skipper Ordered

The New Zealanders gave the perfect gift to their captain Stephen Fleming,who made history by becoming the most capped ODI captain, by first posting acompetitive 274 for seven and then dismissing Pakistan for 223 with 3.3 overs tospare in a floodlit Group B contest at Mohali.

The Kiwis innings was largely built around Fleming's 105-ball 80 and ScottStyris' knock of 86 as the duo stitched a vital 108-run fourth wicketpartnership to bail the team out of early trouble.

Some lusty hitting in the slog overs by Jacob Oram (31) and Brendon McCullam(27) provided late sparks to the innings with the New Zealanders plundering 99runs in the last ten overs which proved to be a big factor in the end.

The result means that the last league match between Pakistan and SouthAfrica, both of whom have two points from as many matches, will determine thesecond semi-finalist from Group B.

New Zealand have now completed their group engagements with four points.Since the winner of the Pakistan-South Africa match will also end with fourpoints, the net run rate will decide the champion team from Group B. Sri Lanka,the fourth team in the group, are now out of the championship.

Mohamamad Yousuf (71), Shoaib Malik (52) and Mohammad Hafeez (43) were thenotable scorers for Pakistan who found the going tough against a spiritedbowling display by the Kiwis.

With a good total to back them, the New Zealand fast bowlers came to theparty at the PCA Stadium. Tearaway Shane Bond proved his effectiveness on ahelpful track with 3 for 45 for while Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills also chipped inwith tight spells.

With the bowlers excelling under lights without any perceivable trouble dueto dew, the use of chemical spray on the ground appeared to be justified.

Credit should also go to the curators for preparing a beauty of a wicketwhich had something for both the bowlers and the batsmen and played true in boththe innings.

Pakistan, listless both in their bowling and batting, lost their first wicketwhen opener Imran Farhat (6) top-edged a short one from Bond to be caught byMills at third man.

Even before Pakistan could recover from the blow, New Zealand got the prizedwicket of skipper Younis KHan (2) who slashed a short and wide ball from Millsto backward point where Lou Vincent gleefully accepted the catch.

Their confidence boosted by the two crucial breakthroughs, New Zealandbowlers struck for a third time, this time Jacob Oram dismissing a dangerouslooking Mohammad Hafeez for a 46-ball 43 (8x4) to reduce Pakistan to aprecarious 65 for 3.

Much was expected of the explosive Shahid Afridi (4) as he walked in with aconfident swagger to the field. But the mercurial all-rounder showed littlecomprehension of the situation and walked off with his face buried in shameafter his half-hearted hook shot off Oram was caught by Bond.

It was then left to Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik -- saviours inPakistan's first match against Sri Lanka -- to undo the damage and the duo didtheir best in stringing together a partnership of 94 runs and stem the rot.

But just when Yousuf was looking all set for a three-figure score, he wasdismissed by Bond, tactically introduced for his second spell, for 71 that cameoff 92 balls and contained nine fours.

With the asking run rate mounting with every ball and five top order batsmenback into the pavilion, it became increasingly difficult for the Pakistaniplayers to counter the disciplined bowling of the New Zealanders.

There was no other way out for them but to take the aerial route and itresulted in Abdur Razzaq (6) gifting Bond his third wicket of the match.

The rest of the batsmen also perished one after the other in an attempt to gofor big shots.

Earlier, Fleming and Styris lifted their team from a precarious 60 for 3 withan 108-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Fleming hit eight fours and a six in his 105-ball knock while Styris slammed10 fours off 113 balls as Pakistan struggled to contain the rival batsmen.

Oram also capitalised on some unimaginative bowling to hit a cameo 31 off 26balls with four fours and a six. New Zealand milked a whopping 99 runs from thelast ten overs.

The Kiwis were off to a disastrous start as Umar Gul struck with the newball, clean bowling a struggling Vincent (3) through the gates in spectacularfashion to give Pakistan an early breakthrough.

Nathan Astle, coming into the match on the back of a fluent 42 against SriLanka, again looked in fine touch, hitting three fours in his 17-ball 15 beforegifting his wicket to a rash shot. After swatting Rana Naved-ul Hasan? tomid-wicket fence, he attempted a wild heave only to edge it to Younis at firstslip.

Fleming, leading the side for the 194th time surpassing Arjuna Ranatunga'smark of 193, tried to ease off the pressure of losing two quick wickets byhitting two consecutive fours off Gul in the very next over.

The left-hander also hit a six off Rana Naved, the ball flying to the toptier of the stands where it unfortunately hit a spectator who was promptly takenaway for medical attention.

But New Zealand were struck a fresh blow when Peter Fulton was adjudged legbefore off first change bowler Rao Iftikhar Anjum for 7, reducing the Kiwis to ashaky 60 for 3.

Fleming then joined hands with Styris to stage a rescue act and reached his45th ODI fifty and fifth against Pakistan in the process.

PTI