Cricket: Spearman set to open again

By RICHARD BOOCK

Craig Spearman looks set to continue in his jack-of-all-trades role tonight when the New Zealand cricketers square off against Zimbabwe in their mini-World Cup quarter-final.

The 28-year-old seems the likely candidate to partner Nathan Astle at the top of the innings in Kenya, given the injury problems plaguing Chris Nevin and the loss of form suffered by caretaker opener Stephen Fleming.

New Zealand, battling for momentum after the shock 1-2 series loss against Zimbabwe, need to win tonight's match to stay alive in the tournament, and also to resuscitate their African safari in time for the series against the Proteas.

A win would send them into a semifinal against the winners of the overnight match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while the other semifinal will feature India against the winner of tomorrow night's England-South Africa showdown.

After scratching together 11 runs in the recent one-day series against Zimbabwe, Fleming is almost certain to return to his favoured No 3 position in tonight's match, leaving Spearman the challenging task of opening the innings with Astle.

Ironically, Spearman had shown some of the best one-day form of his career while filling in at No 3 against Zimbabwe, scoring a brace of 50s and ending the series with an average of 53.

On the other hand, he has struggled to make a contribution on the many occasions he has been asked to open the innings, averaging just 17.83 in 42 outings against the new ball.

Dropped from the New Zealand side after a miserable run of form against Australia last summer, Spearman was overlooked when the one-day squad for Singapore were picked in August, and appeared to be in Zimbabwe mainly as cover for other players.

However, he took his chances at the end of the test series, smashing 58 runs off 42 balls against a Zimbabwe Academy selection before back-to-back scores of 86 and 62 in the first two one-day internationals.

Apart from the form of Fleming, who in all international cricket this season has totalled 70 runs at an average of 10 (tests and one-day internationals), the main questions hanging over the team concern the selection and performance of the attack, which has proved ragged.

The tourists will be hoping the return of Chris Cairns will go some way towards toward solving that problem, but they could do themselves a favour by giving offspinner Paul Wiseman a run - if they remember he is still in the squad.

New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (capt), Craig Spearman, Nathan Astle, Roger Twose, Chris Cairns, Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Adam Parore, Paul Wiseman, Shayne O'Connor, Geoff Allott, Scott Styris, Glenn Sulzberger, Chris Nevin.

Zimbabwe (from): Heath Streak (capt), Guy Whittall, Alistair Campbell, Stuart Carlisle, Andrew Flower, Grant Flower, Mpumelelo Mbangwa, Mluleki Nkala, Henry Olonga, Gavin Rennie, Paul Strang, Mark Vermeulen, Dirk Viljoen, Craig Wishart.