Brendon McCullum

Jimmy Hansra and Ashish Bagai continued from where they left off against Kenya as they scored impressive half centuries but that wasn’t enough to stop New Zealand cruising to a comfortable 97 run victory as the Wankhede Stadium played host to their first match of the 2011 World Cup.

Osinde kept the Kenyan batsmen guessing in Canada’s previous match and this could have been the reason for Bagai electing to field despite winning the toss. But then bowling to the Kiwi batsmen was a different proposition altogether and the openers raced away 50 by the 9^th over before Bagai plucked a wonderful catch to dismiss Guptill. Ryder was unusually calm in his 56 ball stay at the crease as he put on a 96 run stand with McCullum in 117 balls. The Kiwi keeper brought up his 3^rd ODI century, his first in World Cups, as New Zealand looked to step up the pedal with Taylor out in the centre. McCullum perished as soon as the batting Powerplay was taken but Taylor was brutal on the Canadian bowlers smashing six boundaries and five sixes – four of them in a single over – as New Zealand collected 72 runs from the five overs. Taylor fell for 74 of 44 deliveries as Styris and then Franklin continued the assault ensuring New Zealand collected 122 runs of the last 10 overs as they finished at a mammoth 358/6.

The match seemed headed for an early finish with Gunasekera and Surkari back in the hut by the end of the fifth over. The Kiwis had to wait eight more overs for their next victim when Hiral Patel was caught behind of Oram. But Bagai and Hansra played out the Kiwi bowlers without much difficulty as they added 125 runs for the fourth wicket before heat took its toll on Bagai as he got out trying to hit Nathan McCullum out of the park. The heat continued to haunt the Canadians as Hansra had to retire hurt after reaching his half century as the match was already out of Canada’s reach. Cheema and Davison couldn’t last long as wickets began to tumble but some mighty hitting from Chohan helped Canada finish at 261/9, their highest total in World Cups.

The win kept New Zealand at the top of the table and ensured their qualification for the quarterfinals while Canada will look to take the positives out of this match before they meet the reigning champions Australia on Wednesday.

Tags: Brendon McCullum, Canada, Cricket, Mumbai, New Zealand, Wankhede Stadium, World Cup, World Cup 2011