Cricket: Zimbabwe’s misery continues

Brendon McCullum showed no signs of being overburdened as he hit his fourth ODI century. PHOTO: AFP

NAPIER: New Zealand crushed Zimbabwe by 202 runs in the final One-Day International (ODI) in Napier to complete a 3-0 series whitewash over the out-classed tourists.

Zimbabwe failed to fire once again as New Zealand, inspired by a man-of-the-match century from captain Brendon McCullum, plundered 373 for eight before routing Zimbabwe for a
paltry 171.

Losing captain Brendan Taylor, whose brisk 65 off 62 balls was the high point of the Zimbabwe innings, was left looking for positives from a series in which the gulf between the teams progressively widened.

“We have got to just keep trying to climb that ladder in our attempts to become better players,” said Taylor. “We have still got a lot to learn and we will be better for it after this tour.”

Returning to the ground where they suffered a humiliating defeat by an innings and 301 runs in the one-off Test last month, Zimbabwe let themselves down with loose bowling and shoddy fielding on a flat wicket.

Hosts pile on the runs after electing to bat

New Zealand capitalised after electing to bat, with a 153-run opening partnership from Martin Guptill (85) and Rob Nicol (61) laying the foundation for their side’s third-highest ODI total.

Brendon then piled on the agony with a swashbuckling 119 from just 88 balls, including five maximums, as Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori suffered the indignity of becoming only the fifth player to concede more than 100 runs in an ODI.

Vitori had 105 runs plundered off him in nine overs for just one wicket, at one point conceding three sixes in three balls to Nathan McCullum in a horror over that yielded 26 runs.

Brendon satisfied with convincing win

Meanwhile, Brendon had reasons to be pleased after another emphatic victory.

“It was nice to come in with a few runs on the board,” said the captain. “Some players have had opportunities and have put their hands up. The environment we’ve got, and the belief, is really good at the moment.”

Zimbabwe now have two Twenty20 matches remaining on the tour, the first in Auckland on Saturday, in which to salvage some pride.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2012.