Cricket: Openers blaze way to dizzy triumph

By RICHARD BOOCK

If Nathan Astle was experiencing some light-headedness before Thursday's crunch one-dayer against Zimbabwe, imagine how he must be feeling now.

The New Zealand opening batsman underwent tests after complaining of dizziness earlier in the week, and could be forgiven for thinking he was still seeing things during his team's eight-wicket win at Wellington Stadium.

It was the first time in 31 one-day internationals that New Zealand had managed to post a century opening stand, as Astle struck up a match-winning partnership with Mathew Sinclair to add 153 for the first wicket.

Considering the number of partners Astle has churned through so far, he must have felt like rubbing his eyes as Sinclair laid his claim to an opening berth by scoring 85 off 123 balls before being undone by a run-out.

Astle, who made his ODI debut in 1995, has seen a dozen different opening partners since moving to the top of the order, and in the past year alone he has walked out to the middle alongside Craig Spearman, Chris Nevin, Mathew Sinclair, Chris Cairns, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori.

It might yet all turn out to be nothing more than a mirage, but there were at least signs that Astle may have found a longer-term partner during the emphatic victory on Thursday night.

Sinclair's footwork remains virtually non-existent, but he seems to possess an uncommonly good eye, and has developed a couple of shots to compensate for his deficiencies on the back foot - most noticeably the ability to clip short-of-a-length deliveries away on the legside.

Dropped from the ODI side after a baptism of fire against Australia last summer, he was caught behind for 1 in the first match at Taupo, but managed to make a solid start at Wellington, and seemed on track for his maiden ODI century.

His effort was one of the most encouraging aspects of New Zealand's series-levelling win in the second ODI, ranking alongside the bowling of James Franklin and Craig McMillan, and the all-round performances of Scott Styris and Astle.

The only thing the selectors have to worry about now is whether the same Sinclair will turn up for tomorrow's decider at Eden Park, or whether his far more erratic identical twin arrives instead.

Whatever happens on that front, there will also be a degree of satisfaction that Franklin has so far seemed to cope with the tough ODI environment, and that Styris was able to justify his promotion up the order with a barn-storming innings in Wellington.

Styris has always seemed a batting all-rounder - someone who might not disgrace a No. 6 or 7 slot - and added more weight to the theory with his clean hitting at the end of the chase.

His most pressing task now is to find a way of keeping a lid on the scoring-rate at death. He has bowled impressively in his early spells this week, but conceded 20 and 16 runs in each of his last overs.