Nathan Astle's 145 helped give New Zealand a record-setting 210 run victory over cricket rookie US in the Champions Trophy on Friday.
Astle's tally was the joint highest-ever for the tournament and helped steer New Zealand to a first innings total of 347. That's the biggest one-day international score at the Oval and the highest in Champions Trophy history.
PHOTO: AFP
It wasn't a complete walkover -- the US took two early wickets and grabbed two more late in the innings but embarrassingly collapsed to allow New Zealand to score 110 runs off its last five overs, including 27 runs in one over and 26 in another.
"We had an anxious start with bat and ball," said New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who was looking ahead to Wednesday's match against Australia.
"We were giving back into international cricket, so to speak, it was pressure of a different sort. It's a little different when you are bowling to guys you don't know.
"We're a lot better for the run out, we're not totally happy, the fielding was fumbled and that's one area against Australia that you've got to be top drawer."
The US started brightly in reply in its score of 137. But its ragtag bunch of cricketers from the Caribbean, Pakistan and India, eventually crumbled against the world's second ranked side.
The opening pair of Mark Johnson and Rohan Alexander defied New Zealand's tight fielding to score 50 runs off 52 balls before another collapse.
"We've met our expectations," American captain Richard Staple said.
"Especially when we bowled, I think we did reasonably well in containing top batsmen. I think the most important thing is to stay positive, to stay in the game, to see how these guys build innings. I don't think we're disappointed, we knew it was going to be a tough task."
America lost its first four wickets in seven balls for three runs, with Jacob Oram responsible for four of them. Oram finished with five wickets for 36 runs -- just shy of his best ever figures of 5-26 against India in Auckland in December 2002.
Jigneh Desai and Clayton Lambert helped steady the innings before Desai was trapped lbw by Daniel Vettori for 16. Lambert scored a six to push the US past 100 but soon lost partner Aljaz Ali. Lambert, a former test batsman for the West Indies, reached 39 before being caught by Chris Cairns at deep square leg.
The US total was respectable -- six teams had scored fewer in tournament history -- but their overall performance gave the Kiwis several records.
Their total was the biggest win margin by New Zealand in one-day cricket, bettering the 206 runs it beat Australia by in 1985 and was the highest in the four Champions Trophy tournaments since South Africa scored 316 for five against Kenya at Colombo in 2002.
It also beat Australia's record score at the Oval -- 328 for five against Sri Lanka at the 1975 World Cup which was off 60 overs. Astle's 145 tied the record individual score in the competition with Zimbabwe's Andrew Flower, who hit 145 against India two years ago.
England versus Zimbabwe
Vikram Solanki hit 10 boundaries in his 62 but rain wrecked the opening day of the Champions Trophy on Friday as host England was unable to complete its innings against Zimbabwe.
Play couldn't start for 3 3/4 hours at Edgbaston and also was abandoned 1 1/2 hours early because of more showers. The game will resume today with England on 198 for five after 38 of its scheduled 50 overs.
There were fears that the unpredictable British weather would hit a championship being staged with the summer over and, for long spells, all the spectators had to look at were the covers.
Solanki's 81-ball innings was the only bright spot. England captain Michael Vaughan was out cheaply despite hitting two sixes in a row and Andrew Flintoff only made six.
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