Fleming century powers Kiwis to easy win
By John Mehaffey
Guyana Chronicle
April 3, 2007
ST JOHN'S, Antigua (Reuters) - Captain Stephen Fleming stroked an unbeaten 102 yesterday to guide New Zealand to an easy nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh in their World Cup Super Eight match.
Fleming, who said before the match he was in the best form of his life, raced into the 90s with two soaring sixes off left-arm spinner Saqibul Hasan. He reached his eighth one-day century from 90 balls with his 10th four.
Hamish Marshall then swept a huge six to bring up his 50 in an unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 134 to give the Kiwis victory after only 29.2 overs.
The win puts New Zealand back at the top of the Super Eight standings alongside defending champions Australia with six points. The trans-Tasman rivals are the only two unbeaten teams in the tournament.
Earlier, New Zealand survived the loss of pace bowlers Michael Mason and James Franklin within the first 20 overs to dismiss Bangladesh for 174 from 48.3 overs.
After Fleming had won the toss and asked Bangladesh to bat, Mason bowled only nine balls before leaving the field with a calf strain. Franklin managed six overs before he went off with a migraine.
The absence of two frontline bowlers made little difference to the New Zealanders as Bangladesh were unable to pass the 200 mark even though the top four batsmen each scored more than 20.
INCISIVE SPELL
Jacob Oram, for the second match in a row, bowled an incisive spell at just above medium pace. He dismissed openers Javed Omar (22) and Tamim Iqbal (29), ran out Habibul Bashar (9) seeking a risky second run and returned at end the innings by bowling Syed Rasel for 10.
Shane Bond clean-bowled Saqibul (25) and Mushfiqur Rahim with the first and sixth balls of his second spell and Scott Styris picked up four for 43 with his medium-pace cutters.
Bangladesh would have succumbed for less for 150 had it not been for a bright unbeaten 30 from Mohammad Rafique batting at number nine who hit the only two sixes of the innings.
Peter Fulton, bowled second ball for a duck against West Indies, was out for 15 this time and Marshall should have been run-out early when Aftab Ahmed over-ran the ball.
Fleming played fluently square of the wicket and kept the score ticking over with a series of sharp singles to reach 50 from 61 balls with seven boundaries.
The runs continued to flow as the New Zealanders accelerated in a successful effort to lift their run-rate and the only uncertainty towards the end of the match remained the margin of their victory.
BANGLADESH innings
J. Omar c wkpr McCullum b Oram 22
T. Iqbal stp. McCullum b Oram 29
A. Ahmed c (sub.) Gillespie b Styris 27
S. Hassan b Styris 25
H. Bashar run-out (Oram) 9
M. Ashraful b Styris 3
M. Rahim b Bond 0
M. Mortaza b Styris 2
M. Rafique not out 30
A. Razzak c (sub.) Gillespie b Styris 0
S. Rasel b Oram 10
Extras: (b-5, lb-10, w-2) 17
Total: (all out, 48.3 overs) 174
Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-62, 3-105, 4-122, 5-127, 6-127, 7-129, 8-140, 9-140.
Bowling: Mason 1.3-1-4-0, Bond 10-4-15-2, McMillan 1.3-0-6-0, Franklin 6-1-27-0, Oram 9.3-0-30-3, Vettori 10-0-34-0, Styris 10-1-43-4
NEW ZEALAND innings
P. Fulton c T. Iqbal b S. Rasel 15
S. Fleming not out 102
H. Marshall not out 50
Extras: (w-11) 11
Total: (one wkt, 29.2 overs) 178
Fall of wickets: 1-44.
Bowling: Mortaza 6-0-41-0, Rasel 7-0-22-1, Razzak 8-0-38-0, Rafique 5-0-37-0, Saqibul 3-0-33-0, Ashraful 0.2-0-7-0.
Points: New Zealand 2, Bangladesh 0