Cricket: Black Caps under-achieved in warm-up win, says coach

New Zealand cricket coach Denis Aberhart felt the Black Caps had under-achieved despite a comfortable 78-run win over Easterns in a World Cup warm-up match in Benoni, South Africa, today.

Several players got starts but were unable to forge any meaningful partnerships after New Zealand posted a total of 208 after being sent in to bat on an awkward pitch.

Chris Harris top-scored for the Black Caps with 51 while opener Nathan Astle made 42 and Scott Styris 40 before they came back to skittle the South Africa four-day champions for 130.

Jacob Oram starred with the ball in taking five wickets for 35 from nine overs as the hosts collapsed.

"The partnerships didn't quite kick on so I think we under-achieved a wee bit at 208 and would rather have got something like 230," Aberhart told Radio Sport this morning.

"We were a little bit disappointed with the score in the end but at least some guys got time in the middle."

New Zealand's bowlers continued their rich vein of summer form but the batting remained a concern as the Black Caps once again failed to post a big total.

Aberhart felt that batting form would come once the players struck some "really good wickets" and that the team had trained very well.

"It's a matter now of transferring that out in the middle."

New Zealand play their second and final practice match against Gauteng in Soweto on Friday (New Zealand time).

"The bowlers have done well and they did so again today and now we're just looking for the batsmen to kick on a bit," the coach said.

Aberhart said it was unlikely that the quartet of Lou Vincent, Matthew Sinclair, Andre Adams and Kyle Mills -- who did not play in today's match -- would play the second warm-up match.

"No, we wouldn't commit ourselves to playing all of them," he said.

"We have to, particularly in the batting line-up, give some solidarity there. It's a bit unfortunate but it's where we're at. We're preparing for a game against Sri Lanka and we need to make sure the people we consider our better players are getting plenty of cricket to be ready for that first game."

Aberhart said New Zealand's decision to pull out of their match against Kenya in Nairobi set down for February 21, for safety reasons, was not playing on the team's mind.

"We have actively put it out of our minds. We're here to play cricket and prepare for the Sri Lankan game. New Zealand Cricket, we're confident have got our best interests at heart and they've made the decisions that needed to be made," he said.

"We're pleased with the decisions that they've made. We're focusing on the cricket and we're not even discussing the Kenya situation."

New Zealand begin their World Cup campaign in Group B against Sri Lanka in Bloemfontein on Monday.

Scoreboard from the World Cup cricket warm-up match beween New Zealand and Easterns played at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, South Africa today.

New Zealand

S Fleming lbw b Morkel 7

N Astle lbw b Reddy 42

C McMillan c Morkel b Z de Bruyn 21

S Styris c Jennings b P de Bruyn 40

C Cairns b Z de Bruyn 1

C Harris not out 51

B McCullum c P de Bruyn b Morkel 14

J Oram c Botha b Nel 3

D Vettori not out 4

Extras (15w, 1b, 9lb) 25

Total (for 7 wkts) 208

Fall: 31, 65, 87, 88, 157, 182, 196

Bowling: A Nel 10 overs 1 maiden 37 runs 1 wkt, J Morkel 10-0-41-2, B Reddy 10-0-42-1, Z de Bruyn 8-1-31-2, D Crookes 7-0-20-0, P De Bruyn 5-0-27-1

Easterns

M Sekhoto b Bond 5

A Botha c Styris b Tuffey 9

J Morkel c McCullum b Bond 4

Z de Bruyn c McCullum b Oram 8

J Booysen c Fleming b Oram 3

D Crookes not out 51

G Toyana c McCullum b Oram 5

P de Bruyn b Vettori 10

D Jennings run out (Styris) 16

B Reddy lbw b Oram 0

A Nel c Astle b Oram 3

Extras (11w, 5nb) 16

Total (all out, 36 overs) 130

Fall: 7, 21, 31, 35, 48, 66, 83, 123, 123, 130.

Bowling: D Tuffey 10-1-36-1, S Bond 8-1-36-2, J Oram 9-0-35-5, D Vettori 8-2-23-1, C Harris 1-1-0-0.

Result: New Zealand won by 78 runs.

- NZPA