Cricket: Taylor's reign starts with an easy win

Brendon McCullum. Photo / Getty Images

It was a winning start for Ross Taylor's New Zealand captaincy reign, and an easy one at that, against Zimbabwe in Harare yesterday.

But pleasure at the manner of the 10-wicket T20 win should be measured. Zimbabwe were dreadfully weak.

Take out captain Brendon Taylor, whose gritty unbeaten 50 off 46 balls at least got the hosts past 100. Zimbabwe made it as far as 123 for eight, but once Brendon McCullum found his bearings it was game over.

The wicketkeeper-opener, who was dropped at mid wicket on 24, clouted six sixes and five fours in his 46-ball 81 not out, adding an unbroken 127 in 13.3 overs with Martin Guptill.

"Most of the credit goes to the bowlers. They made it easy to come out and bat that way," McCullum said.

Having sent Zimbabwe in - and with the hosts missing key batsman Vusi Sibanda, whose mother had died earlier in the day, and former captain Tatenda Taibu - the bowlers found immediate reward, Kyle Mills dismissing the openers within his first 13 balls.

Taylor couldn't find a reliable partner and his was a largely lone hand. Three wickets fell off the final seven balls of the innings.

Some of the shot selection was club standard. In some instances that's a disservice to club players.

How Charles Coventry produced ODI cricket's joint second highest score, with 194 not out - shared with the fine Pakistani opener Saeed Anwar and bettered only by Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten 200 against South Africa last year - defies belief.

The New Zealand bowling was generally tidy - five shared the wickets, so too the fielding and that left the batsmen a straightforward target.

"The way we started with the ball was pleasing," Ross Taylor said.

"When you have been out of cricket for so long, the way we backed up the bowlers in the field was excellent and Brendon and Martin were outstanding with the bat."

The second T20 is on the same ground early tomorrow. The four New Zealand players omitted yesterday were bowlers Graeme Aldridge and Andy McKay, allrounder Rob Nicol and batsman BJ Watling.

There will be some interest in whether any of them get a run or must wait for the three-game ODI series to stretch their legs.