Cricket: Astle scores century, Vincent and Fleming fall short

Black Caps batsman Nathan Astle watches his shot against Zimbabwe last night, on his way to an unbeaten 116. Picture / Reuters

BULAWAYO - Nathan Astle went boldly where Lou Vincent and Stephen Fleming failed to tread when he scored his 11th century on the second day of New Zealand's second test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo overnight (NZ time).

Vincent looked on track for a hundred before a ragged swipe across the line helped Heath Streak uproot his middle stump for 92.

Stephen Fleming also seemed bound for three figures, but then he played a half-hearted stroke that had him caught behind off Blessing Mahwire for 65.

Astle showed them how it should be done, and at the close he was 116 not out after facing 192 balls and hitting 19 fours.

"I kept my patience and I was pleased with the way I batted the whole way through," he said.

"I knuckled down and concentrated on hitting the bad balls, which you will always get."

New Zealand received plenty of those on Tuesday, which ended with the visitors on 454 for seven in reply to Zimbabwe's first innings of 231.

That earned the Black Caps a commanding lead of 223 -- already enough, perhaps, to allow them to wrap up the series 2-0.

New Zealand plundered 406 runs on Tuesday. They scored 132 in the morning session, another 107 before tea, and they hammered 167 more runs before stumps.

The Zimbabweans had no clue how to contain them, and the flat pitch and fast outfield were New Zealand's allies.

Which made the dismissals of Fleming and Vincent doubly damning.

"It was the story of the day -- as soon as we got partnerships going we would lose a wicket and our momentum would be gone with it," Astle said.

"In fact, we never really got going."

Astle said his cause had been well served by the time he spent playing in England in the off-season.

"Usually I'm a slow starter, but seven weeks in Durham and having just nine days between that and the start of the tour has done me the world of good."

Fleming did manage to score enough runs -- he needed 15 -- to make him the first New Zealander to pass 6000 runs in test cricket. Not surprisingly, the captain's achievement went down well in the dressingroom.

"It's great for him," Astle said.

"He's batting very, very well and it's great to see someone reach milestones like that."

Bulawayo's pitches are notoriously indestructable, but Astle said he was hopeful the Kiwis' bowlers would be aided by a surface that has favoured batsmen so far in the match.

"There are a few cracks starting to appear which we could make use of in Zimbabwe's second innings," he said.

Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwe's debutant left-arm spinner, reminded the visitors that the match was far from over.

"We can build well from here, we showed in the first innings that we can dig deep," he said.

"Hopefully we can still set New Zealand a challenge."

The plucky Dabengwa took his maiden test wicket when he had Brendon McCullum caught at slip for 24, and he followed that by having Daniel Vettori caught behind for 48.

* Scoreboard at stumps on the second day of the second Test between Zimbabwe and New Zealand at Queens Sports Club:

Zimbabwe 1st innings 231 all out (T. Taibu 76, B. Mahwire 42, S. Bond 6-51).

New Zealand 1st Innings (overnight 48-2)

J. Marshall c Carlisle b Streak 10
L. Vincent b Streak 92
H. Marshall run out (Mahwire) 13
S. Fleming c Taibu b Mahwire 65
N. Astle not out 116
S. Styris c Taibu b Mahwire 45
B. McCullum c Taylor b Dabengwa 24
D. Vettori c Taibu b Dabengwa 48
J. Franklin not out 9
Extras (4b, 8lb, 18nb, 2w) 32
Total (for 7 wkts, 100 overs) 454
Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-48, 3-186, 4-205, 5-292, 6-346, 7-439
Bowling: H. Streak 16-3-62-2 (9nb), B. Mahwire 20-1-102-2 (5nb, 1w),

C. Mpofu 15-1-80-0 (1nb), G. Cremer 24-1-111-0 (3nb), K. Dabengwa 25-2-87-2 (1nb).

- NZPA