NAPIER, 3 March 2004 — New Zealand scored its fifth straight One-Day cricket victory against South Africa yesterday, winning by five wickets. Led by a career-best 92 not out off 139 balls from newly-elevated test opener Michael Papps, New Zealand sealed a 5-1 series success against the world’s second-ranked side.
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said they were very content now they had jumped four places from the start of the series to third in the world one-day rankings.
“It’s a pretty rapid climb but we knew there’s a group of about three or four teams that were pretty close,” he said. “We knew what was on offer today, probably didn’t play as polished as we would have liked but it was still a good win.”
Chasing South Africa’s 187, New Zealand won by five wickets with four overs to spare in a flat final match without the sledging that bothered Sunday’s game. South African captain Graeme Smith made a blunder at the toss, opting to bat first, apparently well aware of the previous match here six weeks ago when New Zealand dismissed Pakistan for 126.
Smith also hadn’t learned from the second match in Christchurch where he batted first and the pitch seamed early on, going against Fleming’s mantra of always bowl first in New Zealand One-Dayers.
Smith later told reporters he had made a mistake on the toss.
“I didn’t think the pitch would have any movement in it and it did. It was a two-game wicket,” Smith said. “Batting first it went around a lot and batting second it did nothing, so maybe next time I should ask.”
At 29 for five the match was virtually over as a contest as Daryl Tuffey and Michael Mason cut through the South African top order. South Africa recovered thanks to a record 10th wicket stand of 67 between Makhaya Ntini and Albie Morkel but with the pitch flattening all the time it was nowhere near good enough.
Earlier big guns Smith, Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis were all removed before 15 runs were scored, with new Test cap Mason dismissing Gibbs and Kallis, the latter unlucky to be given out caught behind by Tony Hill for nought.
Only a seventh-wicket partnership of 63 off 110 balls between Ashwell Prince and Lance Klusener — a record against New Zealand — rescued the tourists from a sub-100 total. Following the game Papps was one of three newcomers named in the squad of 13 for next Wednesday’s South Africa Test in Hamilton, along with wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and paceman Michael Mason.
Papps was a near-certainty after his second half-century in four innings that gave him 204 runs for his debut series at 51.
Coach John Bracewell said Papps has the first-class numbers that signal a readiness to step up to Test level — an average of 37.06 from 44 matches including six centuries.
New Zealand squad: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Michael Papps, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Paul Wiseman, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Michael Mason, Chris Martin.
Ponting, Katich, Lehmann Score Centuries
In Colombo, Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich and Darren Lehmann scored centuries as Australia rattled up 484 for six on the first day of a three-day practice match against a Sri Lanka President’s XI on Tuesday.
Australia captain Ponting, who opened the innings, continued a prolific run on tour with 116 from 120 balls, hitting 18 boundaries, before being stumped off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. Katich, a contender for a place in Australia’s middle order, scored 116 from 118 balls, hitting 17 fours and two sixes.
Lehmann, back in the Australian squad after injury, smashed an entertaining 134 from 143 balls with 19 fours.
