Canada v New Zealand

Kiwis Trounce Canada
The Kiwis took on Canada on Thursday, March 22 at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia. This match was actually a dead match as New Zealand had already qualified for the next round of Super 8 while Canada had already been ousted from the World Cup. Hence the Kiwis were not under any pressure to perform in their match against Canada. However, they were keen to enhance their performance and go in the next round with their best form and hence wanted to get a good outing against Canada.

Canada Win Toss
As the Match Referee, MJ Proctor tossed the coin, the Canadian skipper John Davison called it correctly and elected to field first on a wicket that was hard with some shine on it. All the experts supported Davison’s decision, as it was a pitch that was ideal for the bowlers to exploit.

Kiwis go on a Rampage
As the Black Caps began their innings, it looked as if Davison’s decision to invite the Kiwis to bat first had backfired on them. The New Zealand opening pair, skipper Stephen Fleming and Lou Vincent accelerated right from the start. Skipper Fleming was at his usual best and hit several classic hits in his innings of 66 from 67 balls. Fleming’s innings comprised of 8 boundaries and 1 huge six. However, Fleming’s innings was overshadowed by the other opener, Lou Vincent. Vincent looked in a great touch right from the beginning and carted the Canadian bowlers to all corners of the stadium. The opening pair put on a partnership of 142 runs in just 21 overs. Even after Fleming’s exit, Vincent continued his domination and put on a partnership with Peter Fulton of 80 runs. Due to these two solid partnerships, New Zealand was comfortably placed and had the right platform from where they could accelerate and set up a mammoth target.

McCullum goes berserk
After Scott Styris and CD McMillan got out early, there was a brief lull in the New Zealand innings. However, it was the New Zealand wicket keeper Brandon McCullum who added the finishing touches to the New Zealand innings. McCullum was like a man on a mission and scored an astounding 52 runs from just 21 balls with 1 boundary and 5 sixes. McCullum scored the fastest fifty ever in World Cup history, from 20 balls. This attack by McCullum demoralized the Canadians completely and by the end of the 50 overs, New Zealand had scored a huge score of 363 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. The unbroken partnership of Mc Cullum and Oram put on 85 runs in 70 overs at a rate of more than 12 runs in an over played.

Canadian Reply
After the New Zealand storm, it was always going to be difficult for Canada to reach the target of 363 runs. However, to the credit of Canada, the team refused to give up without a fight. Led by their Captain John Davison, the team got off to a decent start. Davison along with his other opening partner Geoffrey Barnett put on an opening stand of 76 runs scoring in 9.4 overs at the rate of nearly 8 runs per over. Skipper Davison scored a brilliant half-century to give the Canadian fans some reason to cheer. Davison was eventually out for 52 runs out of 31 balls with 9 boundaries and 1 six. The other batsman from Canada who displayed an impressive performance was Ian Shaw Billcliff. Billcliff scored 50 runs from 56 balls with four classic hits to the boundary.

Kiwis Prove too good
Though the Canadians displayed an excellent fighting spirit, the team eventually fell short of the huge target. Canada managed 249 runs from 50 overs and though this total was not enough for Canada to win it earned great appreciation from the experts. This performance ensured that though Canada lost it certainly did not disgrace the nation. This score of 249 was Canada’s best score in one day international with its previous best being 228 against England. For the Kiwis, the leading wicket takers were JS Patel and Daniel Vettori. Both of them picked up three wickets each. Lou Vincent was awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant century. With this win, New Zealand stormed into the next round by winning all its qualifying matches and topping its group.