Top ten fielders of New Zealand in T-20

In the Twenty-Twenty format, New Zealand is the same as in One Day Internationals. Their fielding is excellent, their strong point and they are very active on the field.

New Zealand has a couple of all-rounders who prove to be very helpful on the field. They know how to deal with tough situations and can bring the match on track when their performance is going on and when the other players are panicking.

In the last Twenty-Twenty match, they added players who were still recovering, as they had been injured previously. New Zealand was smart enough to put some players on hold as well, in case the present team members would not be fully fit to play the World Cup. Top ten fielders of New Zealand in T20 are:

1. LRPL Taylor
2. JDP Oram
3. BB McCullum
4. NL McCullum
5. MJ Guptill
6. DL Vettori
7. SB Styris
8. TG Southee
9. JEC Franklin
10. JD Ryder

Cricketing season

Summary of present cricketing seasons

England vs Bangladesh
2nd ODI
England beat Bangladesh in the second ODI thus winning the 3 match series 2-1. Tamim Iqbal, the star scorer of the first match, failed to impress and was out for 30 runs. Bangladesh managed to score 260 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 50 overs. England too made a shaky start and lost early wickets but thanks to Morgan’s unbeaten 110, the team reached the target with 7 balls remaining. Morgan was the Man of the Match.

3rd ODI
England swept the ODI series 3-0 when they once again humbled Bangladesh in the 3rd and final one day game at Chittagong.
Asked to bat first, England posted a good total of 284 runs for 5 wickets. Runs did not come easy for the touring side but the brilliant maiden century from Kieswetter laid the foundation of a score unreachable by the home side. Abdur Razzak took 2 wickets for 40 runs in his 10 overs was the only impressive Bangladesh bowler.

Bangladesh suffered an early loss when Tamim Iqbal was out for a duck. The other opener Kayes followed shortly with 17 runs to his credit; both fell to Bresnan. The middle order showed some spine but could not resist the lethal English bowling for long. At the end of their 50 overs, Bangladesh could put 239 for 9 wickets on the score board. Bresnan was the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets to his belt for 28 runs. England won by 45 runs.

New Zealand vs. Australia

The first ODI between New Zealand and Australia was played on 3rd March at Napier. Injured Vettori was replaced by Styris. Australia made a promising start with 14 runs from the very first over of Tim Southee. However, some brilliant bowling by Tuffey and Franklin in the earlier overs and then by Bond and Southee contained the Australian batsmen. Australia scored 275 for the loss of 9 wickets. Australian batsmen seemed uncomfortable with the pace of the wicket and although made good starts, could not continue with the same aggression. Hussey and Watson scored 59 runs and 45 runs respectively. Tuffey took 3 wickets for 58 runs.

In reply, New Zealand made a rather slow start but continued making runs and reached the target at the loss of 8 wickets with two balls to spare. Styris hit a huge six to score the winning runs. Substitute captain Ross Taylor scored 70 runs while Styris scored 49 and McCullum with 45 runs were the other big contributors.
New Zealand leads the 5 match series 1-0.

2nd ODI Auckland
The second one day game was played at Auckland on 6th March. New Zealand’s captain Vettori was back in the side but Taylor was out with a leg injury. Batting first, Australia managed a modest total of 273 for 7 wickets with Hussey, White, and Haddin -all scoring half centuries. Bond and Vettori took two wickets each while Franklin and Tuffey got one each.

Due to rain, the New Zealand team now faced a target of 266 runs from 45 overs. Judging by their last performance, 266 seemed a gettable target for New Zealand. New Zealand made a good start by scoring 10 runs from the first over. McCullum was on fire and scored 24 runs from 16 balls. Before he could do further damage, he was caught by Haddin off the bowling of Johnson. New Zealand continued to score and was 252 at the end of the 43rd over but they had lost 9 wickets as well. The Kiwis hopes were high as captain Vettori was on the crease and in an attacking mood as well. At this point, 11 runs were required off 13 balls but Vettori was bowled by Harris when he attempted to flick him behind the square leg.

Australia leveled the score 1-1. The two teams will now meet on 9th March at Hamilton.
West Indies vs Zimbabwe
1st ODI
Zimbabwe continued to embarrass West Indies when they won the first one day match played on 4th March at Providence. Zimbabwe batted first and scored 254 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in its allotted 50 overs. Sibanda scored 95 and fell 5 runs short of his century when a delivery from Roach not only dislodged his bails but also broke his bat into two. Sibanda was supported by Taibu 56 and Masakadza 41.

West Indies were off with a great start as the opening pair scored half centuries followed by a 70 from Chanderpaul. But the rest of the batsmen failed miserably and the home side lost by two runs. Masakadza took 3 wickets for 36 runs in 3 overs.

2nd ODI
West Indies bounced back to level the series 1-1 as they defeated Zimbabwe on March 6th at Providence. Zimbabwe opted to bat first and repeated their strategy of the first ODI. Chigumbura scored 50 and a 47 by Taylor were the highlights of Zimbabwe’s innings. Miller took 4 for restricting the tourist at 206 runs.

West Indian batsmen still need to bat responsibly. This time an 88 by Gayle and 65 by Deonarine saved the home side as they reached the required total in 47.5 overs with 4 wickets in hand.