Nathan McCullum helps New Zealand win 20/20 match against Zimbabwe
One may have heard of the Super Mario Brothers, the video game characters that always rescued their friends whenever there was trouble, who stood for truth and justice and had their way by fighting for what they thought was right. New Zealand cricket team had their own version of Mario Brothers, named McCullum Down Under, who excel when the chips are down, play best when given responsibility and fight their way to victory against varied opponents.
Nathan McCullum once again was the star for the Kiwi side in their second Twenty20 Group B encounter where they floored the inept Zimbabweans, before rain ruined their match. New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to field first, taking the rain advantage just like Chris Gayle had done a day earlier against England. But unlike Gayle, Vettori had the bowling attack to deal decisive blows against the spirited Africans, who came into the tournament after defeating Australia and defending champions Pakistan in the warm up matches.
Although Zimbabwe didn’t have Lady Luck on their side, it seems that they wouldn’t have fared better had she been with them. With rain disturbing the proceedings for the second time in as many days, Zimbabwe had no excuses for the elimination which saw their entire campaign last only 48.2 overs.
They failed to live up to their reputation as giant killers and folded to one of the lowest Twenty20 totals against New Zealand to become the first team to exit of the competition. They failed to display their batting prowess, getting dismissed for just 84 runs and faltering against the spin of Nathan McCullum and skipper Daniel Vettori, who took 5 wickets between them.
The only batsman who showed any promise was former skipper Tatenda Taibu who top scored with 21 and Hamilton Masakadza, who scored 20 valuable runs as an opener. The two scored 36 runs in the first 5 overs but as soon as they were sent back, no Zimbabwean was able to make any use of their good work. Greg Lamb, who scored 14 valuable unbeaten runs and Extras at 11 managed to reach the double figures.
Their collapse was as spectacular as their pre tournament heroics. They lost their last 8 wickets for just 16 runs - with Nathan McCullum taking three wickets in one eventful over, the ninth of the innings. The comeback kid Andy Blignaut, the in form Elton Chigumbura, the former joint holder for the highest score in ODI Charles Coventry and skipper Prosper Utseya couldn’t keep up with the loss of wickets, and the whole team was dismissed by the 16th over. Scott Styris also excelled with the bat as he took 3 wickets to unsettle the visitors from Africa.
Chasing 85 runs to win the match and qualify for the Super 8 was never going to be difficult for the Kiwis who had hard-hitting batsmen and all-rounders in their line up. Brendon McCullum batted responsibly and patiently battled his way to 22 off 26 balls after the early loss of Jesse Ryder for 2. By the time the match was finally called off after being initially halted 8.1 overs into the chase, the Kiwis had scored 36 runs for the loss of 1 wicket, and were 7 runs ahead of what should have been their position according to the Duckworth Lewis method.
Although the climax of the match was not as comical as the grand finale to the 2007 World Cup final, there was plenty of confusion on the field and off it, during the rain break that lasted more than an hour. It seemed at one time that both the teams agreed to continue the rain reduced match but that didn’t happen. New Zealand were declared winners by 7 runs and they join India, Sri Lanka and West Indies in the Super Eight.
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