HARARE, 7 September 2005 — Opener Nathan Astle struck an unbeaten 115 to guide New Zealand to a six-wicket victory over India in the final of a one-day international triangular series at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
Astle, who shared in a blistering opening stand of 121 with captain Stephen Fleming (61), anchored New Zealand’s total of 278 for four from 48.1 overs in reply to India’s respectable 276 all out.
Mohammad Kaif top-scored for India with 93 not out, completing his 14th 50 in one-day internationals to revive the Indian batting after they had wasted a good start with a mid-innings wobble.
Astle and Fleming cut loose in the opening overs of New Zealand’s reply, reaching 50 from 30 balls and hammering 12 boundaries in the first six overs.
They dominated the Indian pace bowlers, with Fleming racing to a his fifty off just 51 balls with nine fours, most of them beautifully struck down the ground.
India captain Saurav Ganguly looked to his spin bowlers to make the breakthrough and Virender Sehwag duly obliged, inducing a return catch from Fleming on 61.
Four balls later, Hamish Marshall was dismissed leg before wicket for three as he pushed forward to the occasional off spinner. Astle and Scott Styris put on 58 for the third wicket before Styris was stumped off Sehwag for 37 in the 33rd over and Craig McMillan departed soon after for 13.
However, Astle and Lou Vincent, with an unbeaten 33, upped the tempo as New Zealand reached the victory target with 11 balls to spare. Vincent survived a couple of missed catches before he finished the match in a flurry of boundaries, he and Astle having piled on 72 runs from 64 deliveries.
Astle reached his 15th one-day international century off 121 balls with a six over wide long-on off Harbhajan Singh’s off-spin. He finished with 13 fours and a six from 131 balls.
Sehwag was the pick of the Indian bowlers, taking three for 44 in 10 overs, while left-armer Yuvraj Singh was the economical, conceding 39 runs in his 10 overs. New Zealand were unable to claim early wickets after India won the toss and chose to bat first, openers Sehwag (75) and Ganguly (31) putting on 72 runs in 13 overs.
Ganguly departed after steering a short delivery from Jacob Oram straight to backward point but Sehwag, particularly destructive through the off-side, maintained the momentum in a second-wicket stand of 83 with Kaif. Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori then removed both Sehwag and Rahul Dravid in his fourth over, however.
Sehwag, having struck 12 fours and a six, tried to loft Vettori over the infield but could only lob a catch to extra cover. Two balls later, Vettori speared an arm-ball through Dravid’s defenses to trap him leg-before for a duck.
India slipped from 155 for three in the 25th over to 231 for seven in the 45th before Kaif gave the innings a late lift.
