 Fleming, Bond blast Bangladesh
3rd Apr 2007 12:03 IST
Agencies
New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming and his premiere pace bowler Shane Bond starred in an emphatic nine-wicket Kiwi victory over Bangladesh in a Super Eight match to put one foot in the semifinal of the World Cup at St. John’s in Antigua on Monday.
Man of the Match Bond returned with figures of 10-4-15-2, while Fleming blasted an unbeaten 102 to trample Bangladesh.
The Kiwi bowlers did the spadework, skitting out the minnows for a meagre 174 runs in 48.3 overs, before Fleming and Hamish Marshall (50 not out) shared an unbeaten 134-run stand as New Zealand romped home with 20.4 overs to spare.
Despite Michael Mason limping off the field with a calf strain and his pace colleague James Franklin sitting out major part of the innings with a migraine, Bangladesh could not create any real headache for the Kiwis who are now in touching distance of a semifinal berth.
This was also a sweet revenge of the Kiwis' humiliating two-wicket defeat against the minnows in the warm-up match in Bridgetown.
A victory target of 175 against a toothless Bangladesh attack was never going to be a real challenge and the Kiwis completed the job with clinical precision losing the lone wicket of Peter Fulton (15).
Though their batsmen could not put enough runs on the board, Bangladesh bowlers, however, bowled their heart out but the only time they celebrated was when Fulton was caught by Tamim Iqbal off Syed Rasel.
Fleming struck his eighth ODI century in the match, second in the World Cup. His 90-ball knock featured three sixes and 10 boundaries.
On the other hand, Marshall brought up his 12th fifty and the team's victory in style, hitting Mohammad Ashraful over mid-wicket for a six.
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