Cricket: Trist not blaming loss of players

BULAWAYO - New Zealand cricket coach David Trist refused to blame the loss of key players for their listless performance as they suffered the first defeat of their Zimbabwe tour in Bulawayo yesterday.

Zimbabwe won the second one-day international by 31 runs to level the series and set up a tense decider today at the same venue.

Chasing Zimbabwe's useful total of 273 for five, New Zealand looked good at 189 for three with 12 overs left, before crashing to be bowled out for 252 with seven balls to spare.

New Zealand badly missed their most experienced one-day player, Chris Harris, who was struck down with a stomach complaint.

But Trist said he expected his side to do the job against Zimbabwe regardless of who took the field.

"That doesn't stop us beating a pretty average Zimbabwean side, to be honest," Trist said. "I would have expected whoever takes the field in a New Zealand side to step up. Today they didn't, and we lost."

Harris was replaced on match morning by Dion Nash, who played as a batsman despite his being due to return home today with a recurrence of his back problem.

Harris' absence was badly felt in the middle overs and he was also missed late in the run chase, when New Zealand's inexperience showed.

The key moments came in the 38th over when Roger Twose hit a return catch to Paul Strang on 64, then Craig McMillan was run out for 32 two balls later after a mix-up with Adam Parore.

The next five wickets fell in the space of 11 overs, with Parore, also involved in a running mix-up with Glen Sulzberger, caught on the boundary to end the game.

Daniel Vettori is out until Christmas, but Chris Cairns will rejoin the team after today's final match.

- NZPA