CRICKET WORLD CUP: Captain Stephen Fleming hit a brilliant career-best 134 not out to lift New Zealand to a shock nine-wicket victory over South Africa in their rain-affected World Cup clash in Johannesburg, yesterday.
South Africa had posted an impressive 306 for six, with Herschelle Gibbs scoring a lightning 143, but when the target was revised to 226 after two delays the Kiwis cruised home with 13 balls to spare.
The left-handed Fleming hammered 21 fours in his 132-ball innings and shared in an unbroken second-wicket stand of 140 with Nathan Astle (54 not out).
It was only New Zealand's second one-day win over South Africa in 13 meetings and leaves Shaun Pollock's side, second favourites behind Australia, with a massive task to make the next round from Group B.
It was Fleming's fourth one-day century but his first in a World Cup. It also came in a match his team had to win to have a realistic chance of advancing to the Super Six stage.
New Zealand were 182 for one after 30.3 overs when rain forced the players from the field for a second time. Following a recalculation based on the Duckworth and Lewis system, they were left to score 44 more runs off 51 balls.
When 14 then came off a Lance Klusener over, the result was never in question.
After taking calculated risks to get New Zealand off to a fast start, Fleming adopted a more orthodox approach and was in supreme command as he compiled a 109-ball century, having survived a regulation chance to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on 53.
At Kimberley, Pakistan all rounder Wasim Akram celebrated his record-breaking 34th World Cup appearance with a typically inspired performance to help his team to a crushing 171-run victory over Namibia.
Wasim scored an unbeaten 20 off just 14 deliveries before ripping through Namibia's top order on the way to figures of five wickets for 28 runs as he and Shoaib Akhtar routed the inexperienced Africans.
While the result kept Pakistan in the hunt for a place in the Super Sixes, the match was a personal triumph for Wasim.
Not only did he pass Steve Waugh and Javed Miandad's record of 33 World Cup appearances, but he also took his career total of one-day international wickets to 498, well ahead of any other bowler in history.
Meanwhile James Anderson produced the best World Cup bowling performance by an Englishman for 20 years as Nasser Hussain's team beat the Netherlands by six wickets in their Group A game at East London.
The 20-year-old Anderson, bowling 10 overs on the reel, recorded career-best figures of four for 25 as the Dutch side were restricted to 142 for nine.
But England's opening performance in the tournament, delayed by their refusal to play in Zimbabwe, was still rusty, even though they sprinted home after just 23.2 overs of their reply.
They had reduced the Dutch side to 31 for five but then failed to wrap up the innings, Tim de Leede leading the Dutch rearguard with an undefeated 58.
Nick Knight and Michael Vaughan both made 51 in England's reply but several batsmen threw their wickets away during the chase.
Man of the match Anderson removed Daan van Bunge, caught by Craig White in the gully off a back-foot drive, with the score on 15 and then trapped Luuk van Troost lbw seven runs later.
The score had moved on to 31 before three wickets fell in 10 balls without a run scored.
Two balls later Klaas Jan van Noortwijk glanced to leg and Alec Stewart took a good diving catch and the Nick Statham was trapped lbw by Andrew Flintoff.
The Dutch top five had managed just 21 runs between them but de Leede, batting at six marshalled the lower order superbly.
POOL A: Holland 142-9 (J M Anderson 4-25); England 144-4 (M P Vaughan 51, N V Knight 51). England bt Holland by 6 wkts. Pakistan 255-9 (Saleem Elahi 63); Namibia 84 (Wasim Akram 5-28, Shoaib Akhtar 4-46). Pakistan bt Namibia by 171 runs.
POOL B: South Africa 306-6 (H H Gibbs 143); New Zealand 229-1 (S P Fleming 134 no, N J Astle 54 no). N Zealand bt S Africa by 9 wkts (D/L Method).
