Cricket: Franklin bags five as NZ demolish England

7.20am - By MARK GEENTY

DURHAM - James Franklin shot New Zealand to the top of the NatWest Series table and emulated the deeds of another mid-tour ring-in with his five-wicket haul against England here today.

The Wellington left-armer, at 23 playing his 26th one-day international, took a career-best five for 42 as New Zealand rolled a weak England for 101 before winning by seven wickets.

Despite some early heart flutters courtesy of England speed merchant Stephen Harmison, the tourists coasted to their target in the 18th over in just 82 minutes.

The Riverside floodlights had barely taken effect before a stunned full house of 14,000, some of whom booed their team off the park.

Franklin's was just the 23rd New Zealand one-day international five-wicket haul and the fourth against England.

One of those was by Chris Pringle in Birmingham 14 years ago after he was called in to an injury-hit squad while playing league cricket in England.

The same happened to Franklin here, having been summoned from Lancashire league side Rishton to replace Daniel Vettori in the third test, then to replace Kyle Mills in the one-day side.

The result was New Zealand's sixth straight one-day international win and 10th victory from 12 matches under coach John Bracewell's reign, saw them move past West Indies to the temporary lead and put winless England in grave danger of missing their own series final.

Little did the tourists know how crucial the coin toss would be on a dry pitch which looked slow and low enough for them to include Chris Harris for the injured Daryl Tuffey, but turned out to be a dodgy variable surface.

Harris wasn't even required as he remained stranded on 199 one-day wickets for a fifth match and a seventh month, since he removed Sachin Tendulkar at Hyderabad last November.

While Franklin got the kudos it was Jacob Oram who bowled better early on with the new ball, ending with an excellent three for 23 off 10 overs after being cracked for 23 off one over by Brian Lara on Saturday.

Chris Cairns also chimed in with an accurate 10 overs to end with one for 27.

Oram removed dangerman Marcus Trescothick for the eventual top score of 14 when he charged and was bowled, then Franklin claimed the other big scalp when he bowled captain Michael Vaughan through the gate for 12.

Franklin swung and seamed the ball in the heavy overcast air, two of his wickets snared by debut wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins who bagged three catches in all.

England's batsmen helped New Zealand's cause, with the top five all falling to loose shots.

Entering his ninth over Franklin had three for 42, but removed Ian Blackwell and Ashley Giles in consecutive balls to be on track to emulate Danny Morrison as New Zealand's only one-day hat-trick taker.

Darren Gough then saw off a huge leg before wicket appeal on the hat-trick ball, which replays showed was correctly turned down by English umpire Jeremy Lloyds.

England were on target to top their lowest one-day total of 86 against Australia but last pair Harmison and James Anderson added 23 before Vettori ended things with his fifth ball with still 17.1 overs left.

Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle added 48 off 9.1 overs to make it safe before Harmison took three for 10 in eight balls after cracking Astle a nasty blow on the helmet.

Scott Styris and Craig McMillan coolly saw things home with a stand of 37 off 37 balls, Styris ending things with his fourth boundary to end 23 not out, with a staggering 32.4 overs left.

Franklin admitted he had bowled better in the past without the same reward.

"I was surprised, particularly after my first couple of overs. It wasn't looking too good there for a bit," he said.

"Jake (Oram) was bowling well from the other end, I just had to put it up there and give the ball a chance to swing and luck went my way.

"I think we would have been pretty happy with 100 for five, but 65 for seven is probably a result of good bowling, a little bit of bad batting and some luck."

For England captain Michael Vaughan it continued a remarkable sequence where all their eight losses under his leadership have come after batting first.

"There were a few loose shots, we chose some wrong options, but you've got to give Franklin credit for the way he swung it, " Vaughan said.

"We had too many loose wickets. We've just got to somehow come to grips with when we bat first, we put on a competitive total."

Scoreboard:

England

M Trescothick b Oram 14

M Vaughan b Franklin 12

G Jones b Oram 5

A Strauss c Oram b Franklin 8

P Collingwood c Hopkins b Franklin 2

A McGrath c Hopkins b Oram 12

I Blackwell lbw b Franklin 5

A Giles c Hopkins b Franklin 0

D Gough c Fleming b Cairns 7

S Harmison not out 13

J Anderson b Vettori 11

Extras (4lb, 2w, 6nb) 12

Total (32.5 overs) 101


Fall: 24 (Trescothick), 30 (Vaughan), 37 (Jones), 44 (Collingwood), 51 (Strauss), 65 (Blackwell), 65 (Giles), 76 (Gough), 78 (McGrath), 101 (Anderson).


Bowling: J Oram 10-0-23-3 (1w, 3nb), J Franklin 10-1-42-5 (1w, 3nb), C Cairns 10-2-27-1, S Styris 2-1-4-0, D Vettori 0.5-0-1-1.


New Zealand

S Fleming c Gough b Harmison 31

N Astle lbw b Harmison 15

H Marshall c Giles b Harmison 5

S Styris not out 23

C McMillan not out 15

Extras (7lb, 2w, 5nb) 14

Total (for 3 wkts, 17.2 overs) 103


Fall: 48 (Fleming), 57 (Astle), 66 (Marshall).


Bowling: D Gough 6-0-30-0 (1w, 4nb), S Harmison 7-0-38-3 (1nb), J Anderson 4.2-0-28-0 (1w).


Result: New Zealand won by seven wickets.


Man of the match: James Franklin.


- NZPA