by were expected to be one sided, and they were.
*** South Africa vs Untied Arab Emirates ***
Before the tournament started, few people would have nominated
Gary Kirsten the batter most likely to beat Richards' one day
record. Against a weak UAE, he had a field day, and came
impossibly close to beating the old mark.
The South African bowlers then had a field day; At one stage UAE
was 72 for 8 at about the 30 over mark. How they managed to bat
out the rest of the time without losing another wicket is beyond
me. Did South Africa ease up on them or something?
*** West Indies vs Zimbabwe ***
Unlike the ICC teams, Zimbabwe at least batted first, avoiding
the ignominy of a 300+ total. The total of around 150 was never
going to seriusly challenge the West Indies batting line up.
Paul Strang took 4 wickets to at least give Zimbabwe some
respectability, if not any chance of winning.
*** New Zealand vs the Netherlands ***
There is a reasonably strong connection between New Zealand and
Dutch cricket. Former Canterbury coach David Trist coaches the
Netherlands team, and both Lee Germon and Nathan Astle have
played in the Netherlands in the off-season.
This match went pretty much as it should have gone. Both sides
can emerge with a reasonable amount of credit. New Zealand
batted first and scored 307. But the Dutch took 8 wickets. In
their turn at bat the Netherlands scored 180-odd. They never
looked like getting bowled out - but they were never going to in
either.
Most of the New Zealand batsman can only blame themselves for
their dismissals. Roger Twose aside, most of the got past 50
befor throwing their wickets away. Even if none of them went on
to make a big score, it gave most of the batsman valuable time in
the middle.
Chris Harris took 3 wickets, plus effected a run out with some
good work at the bowlers end to retrieve a high throw by Robert
Kennedy. For some reason, Harris seems to take a lot of wickets
in World Cup games - he now has a total of 20 over two
tournaments. He also hit the stumps several times for run out
attempts - even if one went for 4 overthrows...
For Netherlands, Peter Cantrell and Roland LeFebvre probably
deserved half centuries. They batted well enough, but threw
their wickets away.
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Chris Owen