New Zealand huffed and puffed to a three-wicket victory over a spirited Scotland and jumped to the top of Pool 'A' with their second consecutive victory in the World Cup in Dunedin on Tuesday.
Kiwi pacer Trent Boult (2/21) set up the victory as Scotland were bundled out for a measly 142 in 36.2 overs at the University Oval ground.
Veteran spinner Daniel Vettori polished of the lower-order after pacers Boult, Tim Southee (2/35) and Corey Anderson (3/18) unsettled the Scotland innings.
Scotland owed their total to Matt Machan (56) and Richie Berrington (50), who struck fighting fifties.
It was too small a total to defend, but Scotland's paceman came out all guns blazing, removing half of the Kiwi batting line-up in 21 overs.
The wicket had good bounce and the batsmen required to apply themselves throughout and a little lapse of concentration resulted in the loss of a wicket.
Kane Williamson top-scored for the Kiwis with a his 38-run knock while Grant Elliot managed 29 amidst an inexplicable collapse.
Even though the Kiwis won with 25.1 overs to spare the way they achieved the target was far from convincing.
Nevertheless, it was their second win after a comprehensive victory against Sri Lanka in the opening match of the tournament.
The Scotland pace duo of Iain Wardlaw (3/57) and Josh Davey (3/40) shared six wickets between them.
Earlier, after New Zealand elected to field, Boult rocked the Scotland top-order by taking two wickets in two balls. He trapped opener Calum MacLeod and Hamish Gardiner before the batsmen could open their accounts.
Tim Southee (2/35) inflicted more damage when he accounted for other opener Kyle Coetzer (1) and rival skipper Preston Mommsen (0) in consecutive balls in the fifth over, leaving the opponents reeling at 12 for four.
The resurrection of the Scotland innings began when Machan and Berrington (50) dug their heels in for a 97-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Machan faced 79 balls and hit eight boundaries and a six while Berrington took 80 balls for his half-century which had four fours and a six.
Left-arm paceman Anderson broke the stand when he had Machan caught by Brendon McCullum with the scorecard reading 109.
Anderson added two more wickets to his kitty and Vettori took the last three as Scotland's innings folded quickly.
© 2024 Rediff.com -