Cricket: Black Caps crush antique roadshow

Charity was the theme but the Black Caps showed they would be offering no giveaways to the FICA World XI after thrashing them in Christchurch yesterday, winning by nine wickets to go 1-0 up in the hastily arranged three-match series.

The World XI looked like what they were: a team thrown together from all corners of the globe who'd just stepped off the plane. Centurion Stephen Fleming, however, has no doubts the remainder of the series will be competitive.

"I think we can either get them out for a low score or 350. I think it's going to be that sort of tour, where if we let them get away or go soft on them, they've got guys all the way through their team who can hurt you."

The only ones hurting yesterday were the World XI stars, whose day got progressively worse once they reached 16 for no loss.

Jayasuriya was the first to go, well caught for five in the deep by Chris Cairns off Daryl Tuffey. In the same over Spearman went, caught by the golden one in front of 21,000 jubilant fans.

Spearman is a fascinating study of a cricketer. His international career, as a New Zealander, effectively ended on the tour of South Africa in 2000, when he made a late-night plea on the eve of the third test at Johannesburg because he didn't feel he was in the right frame of mind to score runs. Yet now he stands on the cusp of representing England - he qualifies this northern summer - through weight of one-day runs for his adopted home in Gloucestershire and Central Districts.

It was for the latter he played one of the more remarkable one-day innings at this ground in the State Shield final last year, peeling Canterbury off for 85 runs in 48 balls, including off a Paul Wiseman over.

That was the sort of innings that enthralls his supporters, while yesterday's was the sort of knock that frustrates those same people.

Of the star-studded top order, he was the one who looked most comfortable but 14 breezy runs later, just when his team needed him to stick around after Jayasuriya's fall, he played a dreadful lofted drive. It precipitated a run of three wickets with the total stuck at 20.

Jonty Rhodes and Graeme Hick steadied things somewhat but when Rhodes tried to put the Government $5000 more dollars in debt for the third time and got caught on the boundary, the wheels really fell off as Daniel Vettori took control.

At 113-8 things looked downright ugly and Shane Warne-baiters would say they looked even uglier when he stepped up.

The blond one has struck up a friendship with the more-recently blond Vettori following the Tsunami Relief match in Melbourne two weeks ago. That manifested itself in Warne receiving a long-hop from Vettori the first ball he faced, which he kindly poked to the cover sweeper for one.

He's a decent cricketer though. And a determined one, not happy to be here for the benefit of New Zealand match practice.

"There were a few guys who weren't happy at getting hit," Warne said. "We'll have to pull our fingers out for the next game."

He's right - 158 was never going to be a big enough total, as Fleming and Nathan Astle so amply demonstrated.

The roadshow travels to Wellington tomorrow before finishing off in Hamilton on Wednesday.

Allrounder Jacob Oram, who missed the match because of a back strain, might play as a batsman in Wellington but is unlikely to bowl in the series.

It was confirmed yesterday that the 26-year-old will play for Bacup in the Lancashire League at the completion of the test series against Sri Lanka, which ends midway through April.

He will follow in the footsteps of Ross Ormiston, who played there in 1983 and 1984. 


Scoreboard from Saturday's fundraising one-day match between New Zealand and a World XI in Christchurch.


World XI
S.Jayasuriya c Cairns b Tuffey 5
C.Spearman c Wilson b Tuffey 14
I.Harvey lbw b Mills 0
K.Sangakkara c Cairns b Mills 0
G.Hick c McCullum b Wilson 44
J.Rhodes c Astle b Cairns 36
L.Klusener c McCullum b Vettori 4
H.Streak c Fleming b Vettori 0
C.Vaas not out 20
S.Warne run out 26
M.Muralitharan b Vettori 0
Extras (lb-5 w-4) 9
Total (all out, 39.3 overs) 158


Fall of wickets: 1-16 2-20 3-20 4-20 5-99 6-112 7-112 8-113 9-158 10-158


Bowling: Tuffey 8-0-25-2 (w-3), Mills 7-1-30-2 (w-1), Cairns 8-1-38-1, Wilson 7-1-27-1, Vettori 9.3-1-33-3


New Zealand
S.Fleming c Spearman b Warne 106
N.Astle not out 36
C.Cairns not out 8
Extras (lb-4 w-6) 10
Total (for one wicket, 16.1 overs) 160


Fall of wicket: 1-148


Did not bat: M.Sinclair, S.Styris, H.Marshall, B.McCullum, J.Wilson, D.Vettori, K.Mills, D.Tuffey


Bowling: Vaas 5-0-28-0 (w-1), Streak 3-0-22-0 (w-1), Harvey 2-0-23-0 (w-2), Muralitharan 3.1-0-57-0 (w-1), Warne 3-0-26-1 (w-1).


Result: New Zealand won by nine wickets- HERALD ON SUNDAY, REUTERS