By Richard Boock
at the World Cup
MANCHESTER - New Zealand slid out of the World Cup against a backdrop of what-ifs and maybes, after being struck by a runaway train named Pakistan in yesterday morning's semifinal at Old Trafford.
The Kiwis did so much right in this match it was difficult to imagine they could lose by so much, but in the end they were fortunate even to take a solitary wicket during a crushing nine-wicket loss against the tournament's top seeds.
In front of a chanting, singing, whistling and horn-blowing, 21,000-strong crowd, they gave themselves a chance by posting a competitive total of 241 for seven - or what they thought was a competitive total until Pakistan began batting as if they could reel in 300 at a doddle.
The New Zealand attack was first blunted by Wajahatullah Wasti and Saeed Anwar, then manipulated through to the 20 over mark, and although the run-flow dried up briefly through the middle of the innings, Anwar made sure Pakistan would be required at Lord's on Sunday with his second consecutive century of the tournament.
Wasti slogged out in the 41st over when Pakistan were all but home at 194 without loss, but Anwar's unbeaten 113 off 148 balls enabled the target to be eclipsed with two-and-a-half overs remaining.
Against the din of a Pakistan party which began well before play did, New Zealand came frustratingly close to making all the right moves and placing huge pressure on their opponents, but were, in the final analysis, possibly let down by a major selection blunder.
This was a game played on a pitch which had already been used for last week's match between Pakistan and India and was subsequently the driest 22 yards on which the Kiwis have played during this tournament.
Old Trafford promised to become slower and lower as the day wore on and therefore demanded that the team who won the toss should bat, something New Zealand recognised straight away and put into practice when the coin fell favourably for Stephen Fleming yesterday morning.
What they did not recognise quickly enough was that on this pitch, another slow bowler was likely to be of more value than a medium-pacer, and that instead of playing Dion Nash, it would be preferable to have Chris Cairns opening the bowling and Daniel Vettori in the playing XI.
There was also the question of whether Craig McMillan should have been retained at No 3 during such a slump in form (the option being to promote Adam Parore instead) not to mention what might have happened if the New Zealand selectors had included some batting cover in the squad.
Having said that, New Zealand appeared to have given themselves a decent shot at the win when they recovered from some difficulty at 58 for three to build a total which, although it should have been at least 20 more, looked defendable.
Apart from the fireworks being let off in the crowd, there were also some in the middle, particularly when Pakistan's demon fast-bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, had the ball in his hand.
The man known as the Rawalpindi express blew away a cast Nathan Astle in the sixth over, removed Stephen Fleming's leg stump with a blistering yorker in the 34th, before wrecking Chris Harris' stumps with a cleverly disguised slower ball in the 46th.
In fact, of New Zealand's seven wickets, five batsmen were comprehensively bowled, with Abdul Razzaq producing the perfect inswinging yorker to defeat Matt Horne, and Wasim Akram bewildering Adam Parore with a ball which just lifted the off bail.
There was plenty to be encouraged about in New Zealand's innings though, not least the continued solid form of Roger Twose, who took his tournament runs to 318 at 79.5 before being brilliantly caught by a lunging Ijaz Ahmed at wide gully.
Twose, whose 46 was scored off 83 balls, effectively rescued the innings in tandem with Stephen Fleming, the pair adding 94 for the fourth wicket before Chris Cairns struck a quickfire and unbeaten 44 to boost the total past the 240 mark.
New Zealand have often struggled terribly when they fail to take early wickets, and they found themselves in that position yesterday after Geoff Allott and Dion Nash failed to make any impression with the new ball.
From that moment on, Pakistan's opening pair had the Kiwi attack on the run, to the extent that Fleming was eventually tempted to try Craig McMillan at the bowling crease, an experiment which proved about as successful as McMillan's batting at this tournament.
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