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[huma]

NEW DELHI: New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 7 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in their Twenty20 World Cup clash at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Tuesday.

New Zealand were 36/1 in 8.1 overs in pursuit of 85 when rain stopped play and after waiting for more than an hour, the Kiwis were declared winners by 7 runs because they were ahead according the Duckworth-Lewis system.

Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya dismissed Jesse Ryder in the third over to give his team an early breakthrough.

Earlier, both Nathan McCullum and Scott Styris took three wickets in one over as New Zealand bundled out Zimbabwe for 84 runs.

Zimbabwe lost their last 9 wickets for 26 runs after getting off to a decent start with openers Hamilton Masakadza and Tatendu Taibu putting up a stand of 36 runs.

The Kiwis got their first breakthrough when Tim Southee had Taibu caught by Jacob Oram at square leg off a slow bouncer.

Masakadza was then ran out by a good throw by Oram from deep square leg and from that point, the Zimbabwe collapse began.

In the next over, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori clean bowled Andy Blignaut from behind his legs.

What happened then was simply unbelievable.

Nathan McCullum dismissed Elton Chigumbura, Charles Coventry and Craig Ervine in one over to reduce Zimbabwe to 63/6 in 9 overs.

Then Scott Styris dismissed Timycen Maruma, Graeme Cremer and Prosper Utseya in one over to reduce Zimbabwe to 74/9 in 13 overs.

Vettori clean bowled Ray Price to finish things off.

Teams:

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Shane Bond.

Zimbabwe: Prosper Utseya (Capt.), Hamilton Masakadza, Tatendu Taibu, Andy Blignaut, Craig Ervine, Elton Chigumbura, Charles Coventry, Greg Lamb, Graeme Cremer, Ray Price, Timycen Maruma.