Powerful New Zealand post 358

Powerful New Zealand post 358

anada v New Zealand, World Cup 2011, Group A, Mumbai

Aggressive McCullum punishes Canada

Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum negotiated a tricky start against the moving ball, sprinting to 80 from just 76 balls to carry New Zealand to 135 for 1 halfway through their innings against Canada in Mumbai. McCullum put on 53 with Martin Guptill and a further 82 for the second wicket with Jesse Ryder, who reached a patient, unbeaten 33. Harvir Baidwan's dismissal of Guptill had given Canada a much-needed lift, but despite the helpful conditions it appears they will still be chasing a hefty total this afternoon.

Canada won the toss and Ashish Bagai chose to bowl first, hoping to take advantage of any early-morning moisture in the pitch. The ball did indeed deviate significantly both through the air and off the grassy surface, and Khurram Chohan appeared slightly surprised by the hooping inswing he found first up. His first over included three leg-side wides and a huge appeal for lbw that would have missed the leg stump.

Henry Osinde curved the ball in the opposite direction, away from the bat, at slightly increased pace but after a disciplined start he repeatedly offered too much width and McCullum, in particular took a heavy toll. He repeatedly aimed rifling cuts and drives through or over the off side, and had entered the 30s at better than a-run-a-ball when New Zealand's fifty came up in the ninth over.

Canada struck back through some dogged medium pace from Harvir Baidwan and a stellar piece of wicketkeeping from Ashish Bagai, who has greatly enhanced his reputation behind the stumps in the course of this tournament. Baidwan stuck to an off-stump line despite the punishment he received from McCullum, nibbling the ball both ways off the pitch, and had his reward when Guptill prodded forward to a legcutter and Bagai, standing up, whipped his hands across to hold onto a thin edge.

The wicket did nothing to slow McCullum down, however, and he brought up a 38-ball fifty - his 20th in one-day internationals - in just the 13th over. Ryder soon got going with a brace of boundaries - a scything square drive and a barrel-chested pull - off Baidwan but after the Bowling Powerplay the field was set back in defence and the batsmen seemed happy to simply knock the ball around for ones and twos.

The spinners were brought on and found the pitch as helpful as the seamers had early on, generally keeping the batsmen quiet as the run-rate dipped slightly. New Zealand eased past 100 in the 18th over and McCullum soon tired of accumulating his runs in singles, reverse-sweeping John Davison for the first boundary in six overs and then jumping down the track to swat legspinner Balaji Rao high over long-off.

Canada: 1 Ruvindu Gunasekera, 2 Zubin Surkari, 3 Ashish Bagai (capt/wk), 4 Jimmy Hansra, 5 Rizwan Cheema, 6 Hiral Patel, 7 John Davison, 8 Harvir Baidwan, 9 Khurram Chohan, 10 Henry Osinde, 11 Balaji Rao

New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Jesse Ryder, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Scott Styris, 7 James Franklin, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Jacob Oram, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Tim Southee