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Canada mauled by New Zealand
The 114-run loss to New Zealand at Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia, was the last nail in Canada’s coffin as far as ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 is concerned. The North American team will now head back home after an almost disastrous stint at the world championship. New Zealand, on the other hand, have had a magnificent tournament so far. They have won all their matches in Group C and enter the Super Eights with six points in tow.
New Zealand’s astounding victory was the result of a thoroughly disciplined performance by the players, who, despite reaching the Super Eights, did not show any kind of laxity on the field. Put in to bat first, the Kiwis blazed through to a mammoth total of 363 at the loss of five wickets.
Openers Lou Vincent and Stephen Fleming had a blast on the field, hitting Canadian bowlers at will. Vincent made the second one-day hundred of his career in 116 balls, hitting nine fours and one six on the way. Fleming scored a brilliant 66 off just 67 balls and ravaged the Canadian bowling attack completely.
The New Zealand middle order also displayed extraordinary stroke-making, with Peter Futton (47), Jacob Oram (35 not out) and Brendon McCullum (52 not out) being the prime contributors, to take the total to 363. For Canada, the only bowling performance worth a mention came from Kevin Sandher, who picked up 2 for 58 in his ten overs.
When Canada came in to bat, they were faced with a virtually unattainable target. However, their openers John Davison (52) and Geoff Barnett (40) showed exemplary grit and determination by seeing off New Zealand’s pace attack (sans Shane Bond) till the tenth over – the first wicket fell when the score was 76. The next two batsmen, Ashish Bagai (37) and Ian Billcliff (50) too held fort for some time. However, they could do nothing better than delaying the inevitable.
After Bagai’s dismissal at 188, Canadian wickets kept tumbling at short intervals and the team was sent packing at the total of 249 runs. For New Zealand, the star bowlers were Jeetan Patel (3-25) and Daniel Vettori (3-57). With this match, New Zealand finish the group stage of World Cup at the topmost position in Group C.
Brief Score: New Zealand 363/5 (Vincent 101, Fleming 66, McCullum 52*) vs. Canada 249 (Davison 52, Billcliff 52, Patel 3-25)
Result: New Zealand won by 114 runs
Man of the Match: Lou Vincent
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