Fleming fires unbeaten 102; NZ crush B'desh by 9 wicket

St Peter's, Antigua, Apr 3: Skipper Stephen Fleming gave himself a belated birthday present firing an unbeaten ton after his pacemen made short work of Bangladesh as New Zealand avenged their practice match loss to the Tigers by trouncing them with 9 wickets and 20.4 overs to spare in a World Cup Super Eight match here.

The second successive comprehensive took New Zealand's tally to six point and with four more matches to play, it seems they have assured themselves of a semifinal berth.

Pace bowlers Scott Styris, Jacob Oram and Shane Bond justified their skipper decision to opt to bowl as they demolished Bangladesh for 174 in 48.3 overs and then 37-year old Fleming (102, 92 balls), born on April Fools' day, led from the front and along with Hamish Marshall, reduced rival bowlers to smithereens by putting up an undefeated 134-run stand for the second wicket in 20 overs.

However Shane Bond was declared Man of the Match for his stunning economical spell 10-4-15-2, which spelled the doom for rival's batting line-up.

Fleming, in the process scripted his eighth ODI ton while last-minute inclusion Marshall, who flew in place of injured Lou Vincent smashed a 54-ball 50.

New Zealand, who had lost to Bangladesh in warm up match before the start of the tournament, came up with yet another clinical show and in the process deflated their rivals giving them no chance of hope they might have entertained.

Bangladesh tasted early success when Syed Rasel had Peter Fulton (15) caught at mid on by Tamim Khan when the score was 44.

But it provided no respite for Bangladesh and soon they were scurrying for cover as Fleming and Marshall, after taking their time to settle down, went ballistic. They were 91 for 1 at the end of 20th over but after that it rained sixes and fours as Bangladesh bowlers did not know what hit them.

The limitation of Bangladesh bowling was exposed as none of the five who bowled could even trouble the batsmen leave along test them.

Fleming started the carnage as he plundered Saqibul Hassan for three mighty six all over mid wicket and along with Marshall piled up 87 runs in just 9.2 overs.

Marshall ended Bangladesh's misery when he pulled Mohd Ashraful for a massive six to take the total beyond the target.

Fleming's knock was studded with ten boundaries and three sixes while Marshall half century included a maximum and two fours.

Fleming with ten boundaries in his today's knock has now hit 126 fours in world cup and is second to Sachin Tendulkar who has 189 boundaries to his credit. The New Zealand skipper also crossed 1000-run mark in the showpiece event.

Earlier, Styris claimed four wickets conceding 43 runs in his ten-over spell while Oram scalped three for 30 and Bond took two wickets for just 15 runs in 10 overs as Tigers struggled miserably to score. Bangladesh put in an altogether better effort with the bat than in their previous few games, as their openers added 55 runs for the first wicket. Aftab Ahmed and Saqibul Hassan then added 43 runs for the third wicket to give semblance of fight but other middle order batsmen could not emulate the top order and caved in.

Bangladesh, the surprise qualifiers, at one stage were 104 for two but then lost eight remaining wickets for just 70 runs due to some rank poor shots and inability to negotiate the disciplined fast bowling.

Openers Tamim Iqbal and new inductee Javed Omar made a sedate start after Stephen Fleming won the toss and opted to field. The Kiwis' list of injury worries however, grew once more as Michael Mason could send down just nine balls before pulling up with a calf problem, leaving Craig McMillan to complete the over.

Bond was again impressive in his five-over opening spell, giving away five runs, but once again, it was the towering figure of Jacob Oram who gave his side the breakthrough removing the two openers.

Tamim faced 54 deliveries for his 29 and hit four boundaries.

Omar was equally unhurried in his approach to run-making, getting to a 51-ball 22 with three hits to the fence. He played at a ball too close to his body and edged Oram to McCullum. Bangladesh were 62 for two.

Aftab Ahmed, who looked set for a big innings, too was a victim of poor shot selection, skying a drive to long-on where substitute fielder Mark Gillespie held a well-judge catch off Scott Styris. He was out for 27 off 39 balls with three boundaries and team's scorecard read 105 for 3.

Bangladesh lost their next six wickets for just 35 runs in a space of 14.1 overs to be reduced, to 140 for 9 as batsmen looked in hurry to return to pavilion.

However, a 34 run last wicket stand between Mohd Rafique, who became the top-scorer for his side with unbeaten 30 (2x6, 1x4, 36 balls) and Syed Rasel 10 (1x4, 18balls) took the score to 174 before Oram bowled Rasel to fold up the innings.

UNI