Cricket: Larsen threatened in bowling rethink

By Richard Boock

Gavin Larsen could be the major casualty of a rethink involving the New Zealand cricket team's World Cup bowling attack.

The veteran medium-pacer was on the sideline yesterday as the Kiwis cruised to an eight-wicket win over Hampshire in a rain-affected warmup match at Southampton, after which captain Stephen Fleming praised the makeup of the side.

The New Zealanders - one of only a few teams to receive a reasonable workout during an inclement English weekend - bowled a demanding length while restricting Hampshire to 135 for six off 39 overs, and breezed to the Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 168 with eight wickets and five overs to spare.

While the batting display was encouraging, with Nathan Astle and Matthew Horne putting on a century for the opening stand, the New Zealanders impressed most in the field, with all the front-line bowlers turning in useful spells.

Chris Cairns and Geoff Allott both ended with a brace of wickets, Dion Nash bowled his six overs for eight runs, while Chris Harris took one for 29 off 10 - leaving Fleming in an optimistic frame of mind a week out from New Zealand's opening match against Bangladesh.

"I think the way we bowled our first 15 overs was perfect," he said. "Certainly, the way the bowling attack are playing, they'd be the first choice - simply because they are doing so well.

"It suits us being underdogs, we're happy with that, and we're hoping we can achieve a couple of good results to get us into the top six. The pitch at Southampton is in excellent condition. We've got to play the West Indies here, and we're very happy with the way it plays."

Bangladesh did their confidence no harm, either, when they beat Essex by five runs at Chelmsford after knocking up 263 for seven, including an unbeaten 108 to Khaled Mahmud. It was the only century of the weekend and served notice to the Kiwis that their first game will be no pushover.

Elsewhere, Pakistan continued to impress as genuine title contenders, scoring 272 in their abandoned match against Derbyshire, with Ijaz Ahmed (74) and Salim Malik (44) leading the run-scorers.

India's Rahul Dravid (60) and Ajay Jadeja (54) carried their side through to 219 in the washout against Leicestershire, and hosts England beat Kent by 33 runs after scoring 197, with half-centuries to Graham Thorpe and Neal Fairbrother.

South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia, the West Indies and Zimbabwe were all thwarted by the rain, while Scotland went down to Durham (238 for five) by just two runs, after Gavin Hamilton set up thrilling finish with an unbeaten 91. New Zealand's next game is against Surrey at the Oval tomorrow.