Queensland Cricket and Castlemaine Perkins today announced a new five-year major sponsorship at the XXXX Queensland Bulls and Konica Queensland Fire season launch.Castlemaine Perkins Managing Director Les Sayers announced the deal in the appropriate surrounds of the XXXX Brewery where guests were served a special commemorative XXXX Gold Bulls stubby at today’s function.”This deal is both important for cricket at an elite level with a team like the XXXX Bulls but also at the grassroots level across the State because that is absolutely crucial to our business," he said.The renewed sponsorship comes on top of the previous major sponsorship that has spanned nine years. The relationship with XXXX commenced in 1993-94 when the Bulls were launched.Included in their lucrative sponsorship package were naming rights for the XXXX Queensland Bulls and exclusive beer pourage rights at the Gabba during all cricket matches at the ground.Queensland Cricket Chief Executive Officer Graham Dixon said the new sponsorship deal confirmed the healthy state of the game in Queensland.The sponsorship announcement coincided with the first selection of the Bulls team for the coming season.Pace bowler Ashley Noffke has been included in the full-strength Queensland team for the opening Pura Cup clash against the Western Warriors at the Gabba from Wednesday, although he will face a final fitness check on his injured ankle on Monday.The player of the match in the Pura Cup Final last season, Noffke has made a steady recovery from an ankle injury that cut short his Ashes tour in August and bowled a ten over spell for the QAS Colts team in their one-day win over the Northern Territory yesterday.The Bulls will also check the status of captain Stuart Law, who was forced to miss today’s launch after being bed-ridden with a virus.The Queensland Academy of Sport 2nd XI team to play New Zealand at Allan Border Field from Tuesday was also named, with eight Bulls squad members contained within its ranks.Opener Jerry Cassell will captain the team which contains Lee Carseldine, Chris Hartley, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brendan Nash and Scott O’Leary with Queensland rookie-contracted players Damien Mackenzie and Craig Philipson also selected.XXXX QUEENSLAND BULLS v Western Warriors, Pura Cup, Wed-Sat, the Gabba:Stuart Law (c), Andrew Bichel, Adam Dale, Joe Dawes, Matthew Hayden, Michael Kasprowicz, Martin Love, Jimmy Maher, Ashley Noffke, Clinton Perren, Wade Seccombe, Andrew Symonds.QUEENSLAND ACADEMY OF SPORT v New Zealand, Allan Border Field, Tues-Fri:Jerry Cassell (c), Lee Carseldine, Chris Hartley, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Damien Mackenzie, Brendan Nash, Scott O’Leary, Daniel Payne, Craig Philipson, Chris Simpson.

It was only a moderately overcast day in Hobart, and there certainly weren’t enough in the way of ugly clouds to provoke thoughts that a thunderstorm might be approaching. But lightning nevertheless struck twice today as Australia made its way to a commanding score of 6/411 on the opening day of the Second Test between Australia and New Zealand here at the Bellerive Oval.Just as he did in Brisbane during the First Test two weeks ago, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming landed a major blow by calling correctly at the toss and again sending the home team in to bat on a potentially helpful wicket.Yet, precisely as occurred then, the dream of early wickets quickly proved illusory.And, once more, it was openers Justin Langer (123) and Matthew Hayden (91) who inflicted all of the immediate damage. Their response upon being sent in amid conditions that should have encouraged rather than discouraged bowlers was to follow a partnership of 224 with one of 223.An aggressively driving, cutting and hooking Langer reached another three-figure score, thus becoming the first Australian opener to hit centuries in three consecutive Tests since David Boon achieved the feat in 1993. For good measure, he also established a new high watermark for Western Australians, surpassing Kim Hughes and Graeme Wood as the state’s most prolific-ever scorer of Test hundreds.”It’s a great honour and, by the end of my career, I’d like to think I would have scored a few more so that someone else can really chase the target,” said Langer of the milestone.”I feel very relaxed batting with Matty Hayden. For whatever reason, I seem to gain some strength from him.”I’m (suddenly) playing the game now how I’d like to play the game. But probably for the 12 months before, I wasn’t playing it as I’d like to.”You never know what’s around the corner. Before the Fourth Test (in England), I was at as (close to) rock bottom as I could have been in my cricket career. You’ve got to sometimes hit the absolute depths before you can start re-climbing the mountain,” he added.Though significantly more subdued than his partner for long periods of their liaison (Langer was on 58 by the time the Queenslander tallied his second run of the innings), Hayden also exceeded a mark of 90 for the fifth time in his last ten Tests. It represented yet more evidence of his transformation from prolific first-class run scorer to dependable and mature Test batsman.It was also their third stand together and, like each of the others before it, again swelled beyond the 150-run barrier.Talk about déjà vu.On a peaceful afternoon in the most laid-back of all of Australia’s capital cities, there were two further sets of repeating twists and turns to come too.In the space of 14 minutes, the opening combination was not only split but indeed both members were shifted – Langer falling to a mistimed cover drive at Chris Cairns (1/102) and Hayden to a lofted stroke to long on from Daniel Vettori (4/99).And then, on either side of tea, Mark Waugh (12) advanced and played outside the line of a delivery from Vettori to be comprehensively bowled; Steve Waugh (0) perished, somewhat unluckily, as he padded up at one that cut back in from Shane Bond (1/95); and Damien Martyn (0) continued a horror start to the series when he was trapped in front of his stumps by a flighted ball from Vettori.Both Vettori and Bond, the latter on Test debut, were impressive throughout this period. The over which yielded Steve Waugh’s wicket, in particular, was a brilliant one that had the Australian captain groping, hopping and fending in unfamiliarly hurried style at deliveries of rapid pace and sustained accuracy.After being 0/223, Australia had fallen to 5/267. Visions of the collapse that saw five wickets fall for 39 runs in Brisbane weren’t exactly receding.It was as well for the locals that Langer (on 1) had been granted another desperately early life – from the very first delivery that Daryl Tuffey (0/58) bowled in the Test match as he slashed a very catchable offering to the right of Matthew Bell at point.And that they were able to craft a revival, Brisbane-style as well, through watchful defence and sagacious punishment of the loose ball.Then as now, Adam Gilchrist (39) assisted in no small measure in the cause. Though this time he had not only Shane Warne (31*) to help him. But also local hero Ricky Ponting (92*), with a beautifully measured innings on a ground that had previously yielded the Tasmanian scores of just 4, 0 and 0 in Test cricket.

Glamorgan have confirmed that the E.C.B. have agreed that two of theirEnglish born players, Steve James and Dean Cosker, can play for Wales inthe international challenge match at Cardiff on June 24th. Both qualify onresidence grounds, but all-rounders Keith Newell and Alex Wharf do not meet theBoard’s four-year qualifying criteria.”I think the game is an exciting concept and I know that the boys are alreadylooking forward to it,” said Steve James, Glamorgan’s Lydney-born captain. “It will seemstrange for me playing against England because I was born and grew up there, and playedtwo Test for England in 1998. But I’ve got a Welsh wife and daughter and I feel like anadopted Welshman these days as I’m so settled here.””Wales versus England is always a special occasion, whatever the sport, and I don’t thinkit will be any different in cricket. Our players will be fired up to win and I’m sure we’llhave a fantastic crowd behind us. I think it will be a great game and I don’t see anyreason why we can’t win on our own ground.”The match will be staged at the start of the one-day NatWest Series involving England,India and Sri Lanka, and with the match not clashing with any action from the summer’s WorldCup soccer tournament, Glamorgan are hopeful that the game will be a sell-out.”It’s a good game for England because they will be using it as preparation for theNatWest Series,” said Glamorgan chief executive Mike Fatkin. ” and I don’t think they will beunderestimating the Wales side. This is not a Wales Minor Counties team, as some people seemto believe, but a team of very good and established cricketers. We’re obviously delightedthat our English-born players Steve James and Dean Cosker, like Matthew Maynard and AdrianDale who have been in Wales a little longer, meet the criteria to play and that willstrengthen the squad even further.”The Wales team, who are likely to wear a special red strip, will therefore be chosen fromthe bulk of the Glamorgan squad, whilst two other Welshmen – Sussex batsman Tony Cottey andSomerset paceman Steffan Jones – are also eligible to play.

West Indian hopes of qualification for the LG Abans triangular series final were dealt a cruel blow on Saturday at Asgiriya International stadium, Kandy, after a freak collision robbed them of the services of star batsman Brian Lara for the remainder of the tour and possibly the Pakistan tour that follows.Lara badly dislocated his elbow after a collision with Marvan Atapattu and had to be stretchered off the field and rushed to Kandy general hospital, reviving memories of Steve Waugh’s horrific collision with Jason Gillespie on the same ground in 1999.Without Lara, who had been batting serenely, racing to 24 off 29 balls, West Indies were unable to make full use of the best batting pitch of the tournament so far and Sri Lanka’s batsmen, led by Mahela Jaywardene who scored a 90-ball hundred, romped to an eight wicket in front of a festive capacity crowd.Lara becomes the seventh West Indian player to be ruled out of an ill-fated and unsuccessful tour. It all started with the last-minute withdrawal of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (back) before the team’s departure. Then, in Sri Lanka, Reon King (hernia), Leo Garrick (heart scare), Dinanath Ramnarine (side strain), Mervyn Dillon (disciplinary problems) and Wavell Hinds (family reasons) were all forced to leave the tour prematurely.In such circumstances West Indies poor performance is hardly surprising. They now face a straight shoot out with Zimbabwe tomorrow for a place in Wednesdays final in Colombo.Lara’s injured occurred in the eleventh over of the morning. West Indies were rattling along at six runs an over despite the early loss of Chris Gayle, trapped lbw after offering no shot.Lara pushed the ball into the off-side and called for a quick single. In a desperate effort to gain his ground he dived and collided with Atapattu, who had raced in from extra cover to attempt the run out.It was clear there was a serious problem as he wriggled on the ground in agony and waved desperately for assistance. Within minutes he was carried off the ground, with assistance from both team physios, and straight to hospital, where fears that he had also fractured his arm where at least allayed.But Lara, who returned to his best form in Sri Lanka, will probably still need two months to recover fully because of the extensive ligament damage caused by the dislocation. West Indies are due to tour Pakistan in February, leaving Lara with a tough race to regain his fitness in time.West Indies responded well, as Daren Ganga (52) scored his third consecutive half-century in the tournament and Carl Hooper celebrated his 35th birthday with a top score of 72.But West Indies though lost their way in the later stages of the innings, losing their last five wickets for 42 runs, to be bowled out for 235 in the last over of the innings.Sri Lanka started in boundaries, as Sanath Jayasuriya raced to 34 off 34 balls. However, two wickets from teenager pace bowler Jermaine Lawson pulled West Indies back into the game, with Sri Lanka on 52 for two.The game though didn’t stay evenly poised for long, as Jayawardene and Atapattu took the attack to an inexperienced bowling attack, weakened in the morning by the precautionary resting of Pedro Collins in the morning. Hooper was left needing to fiddle overs out of his part-time bowlers and the batsmen scored almost at will, hitting five sixes in the innings.Atapattu started with uncharacteristic aggression, hooking Corey Colleymore for six and cover driving Neil McGarrell for another in the left-arm spinners first over. However, after the initial boundary spurt, he calmed down to play a supporting role to Jayawardene and was 82 not out at the close.Jaywardene, dismissed on 96 on Wednesday, looked in scintillating form from the start. He hit three fours in his first fifty, which came off 51 balls, and further five fours and two sixes in the second that came off just 39 balls. He finished on 106 not out and was unsurprisingly adjudged man of the match.

Played 13, won four, lost seven, drawn two. As an end-of-year Test ledger it leaves a lot to be desired, but it also fails to tell the story of some doughty campaigns fought by England in 2001. Take out the Australians (how they would have loved to!) and it would look a whole lot brighter. But in the real world, Steve Waugh’s men are never that far down the track. By this time next year the Ashes will be ablaze once more, and on current evidence the heat looks likely to be on England once again.

It began badly in the cauldron of Galle, and ended in unseasonably sopping, Bangalore frustration. But in between came England’s greatest achievement of the year, to win a three-Test series after going one-nil down, and in Sri Lanka at that. There were early signs of Marcus Trescothick’s coming of international age (his maiden Test hundred in the Galle defeat), and the bravery in adversity of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick. Crucially, there was Nasser Hussain’s return to form in Kandy, after a wretched run of form compounded by poor umpiring decisions in Pakistan. And all the while there was Graham Thorpe, unflappably nudging and nurdling, and ultimately playing the decisive part in Colombo as he conquered heat exhaustion to ensure England’s triumph.Four series wins in a row. “Bring on the Aussies!” they started to cry, but there was a short and significant encounter first, which could we but know it, would turn England’s progress into disconcerting reverse. At the outset it seemed merely a triumphal continuation, with an innings victory over an under-cooked Pakistan at Lord’s. Gough and Caddick were rampant again, the duo now bearing reasonable comparison with Trueman and Statham. Then came Old Trafford and a true feast of a Test match, but for England the taste was ultimately sour. After competing effectively for four-and-a-half days on an excellent pitch, they contrived one of their horrible collapses. To the near-disbelief of many watching, England subsided from 201 for two to 261 all out, leaving Pakistan victors by 108 runs and England’s growing reputation for tenacity tarnished. Steve Waugh, who had promised to reopen some old scars, was sharpening his scalpel delightedly.With Hussain out injured since the Lord’s Test, Alec Stewart led England through a one-day tournament which can only have encouraged the doubts to fester. To the increasingly ludicrous strains of “The Great Escape”, batsman after batsman was snared by Australia or Pakistan, as England were trussed up and roasted in six matches out of six. Only at Bristol did they do themselves justice, as they ran Australia close before Ian Harvey clinched it with a towering six at his home from home. Although a 5-0 thrashing of Zimbabwe brought an autumnal revival to England’s one-day spirits, there is a lot to do in the year and a bit before the World Cup in South Africa.The build-up to the Ashes, already blighted by recent defeats, was further disrupted by a string of injuries. Although Hussain returned for the first Test at Edgbaston, the batting line-up was weakened there by the absence of Thorpe and Michael Vaughan. The blow to Hussain’s finger which put him out of the next two Tests with his second injury of the summer could hardly have been more sickening, either for him or for England supporters. With Ashley Giles suffering from a long-term Achilles problem, England were at no stage able to field their first-choice XI.

That said, in the face of truly magnificent Australian opposition, it is doubtful whether the outcome would have been very different. The tourists retained the Ashes at the earliest opportunity, going 3-0 up at Trent Bridge after dominating session after session. England compounded their problems by spilling several catches at Lord’s, including the awesome Adam Gilchrist, who left an indelible impression on his first Test series in England. Steve Waugh was at his most immovable, twin Mark at his most sublime. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne again proved that they are world-beaters.But for the flash of inspiration when Mark Butcher played the innings of his life at Leeds, there would have been nothing to savour at all. But Butcher’s unbeaten 173 delighted the capacity Monday crowd, while enhancing Headingley’s reputation for unpredictability. That was as good as it got. Australia made it 4-1 by an innings at The Oval, and Michael Atherton retired without an Ashes-winning series to his credit.So if India could beat Australia at home, what on earth would they do to England, shorn as they were, for various reasons, of Atherton, Stewart, Gough and Caddick? Cricket has a wonderful way of rendering such questions facile, and it was greatly to their credit that after a disastrous start in Mohali, England had the better of the two drawn Tests that followed. Although Tendulkar twinkled as only he can, support at the other end was often brittle. Several England youngsters progressed, among them Matthew Hoggard, who bowled his heart out, and the debutants James Foster and Richard Dawson. In the end it was defeat with honour, with much of the credit due to the experienced partnership of Hussain and Duncan Fletcher.Hussain himself has pointed out that there are no easy Test series these days. New Zealand are a more than handy outfit, who will no doubt extend England in March. Before that they must measure October’s progress in Zimbabwe against successive one-day tournaments in India and New Zealand. Last summer showed England that their renaissance was more fragile than many had believed, but events since have reassured their many supporters that it is far from being snuffed out.

Australia’s selectors have today embarked on the unexpected step of removing Matthew Hayden from the squad that will play out the remainder of the VB Series of one-day international matches against New Zealand and South Africa.Hayden has played only two matches in the series but was Australia’s outstanding player of the Test summer, scoring four centuries in the space of six matches. Though his performances in the shortened form of the game suffered a lapse on the recent tour of England, the Queensland opening batsman was also in outstanding touch upon winning a recall to Australia’s limited-overs side in India early last year.Mark Waugh, with just 16 runs behind him in the series at an average of 5.33, retains his place and is now expected to partner Adam Gilchrist at the top of the batting order for the remainder of the preliminary matches.All-rounders Ian Harvey and Andrew Symonds, who have mustered only 14 runs between them in four innings, have also continued to hold their spots.South Australian batsman Darren Lehmann’s compelling form at domestic level has meanwhile not been deemed sufficient to win him a call-up. Lehmann hammered an explosive 143 from just 130 deliveries in a Pura Cup match against New South Wales on Friday on the back of form that has won him four Man of the Match awards from seven ING Cup appearances this summer.The growing claims of emerging Tasmanian all-rounder Shane Watson have also been put on hold.The news of Hayden’s omission, meanwhile, comes after the Australians scrapped to a 27-run win over South Africa in Brisbane last night to gain their first win in four attempts in the series.A loss to the same opponent in tomorrow’s day-night encounter in Sydney would go close to ending their hopes of appearing in the finals of the competition early next month.

The first game in Christchurch did not begin well for us when we assembled as we learnt that our pace ace Shane Bond had suffered what looked like a stress fracture of the foot.He was going for some x-rays in the afternoon and it would realise the break which is what Dayle Shackel our physio suspected earlier on.Practice on the Monday with the game on Wednesday started with an informal discussion between Flem [Stephen Fleming], myself, Brian McKechnie and Sir Richard Hadlee about a replacement for Bondy.The final decision is always with the selectors but they wanted our thoughts on a possible replacement.Even though Flem and I had never even laid eyes on Ian Butler, let alone seen him bowl, we both thought he was the person to take over from the fastest bowler we had.We both thought it was a case of replacing apples with apples and bringing in the country’s second fastest bowler for the fastest.Practice next morning was the first time most of the CLEAR Black Caps had met Ian, so it would have been pretty daunting for him also I suspect!He was to open up with Daryl Tuffey and taking the first over his debut couldn’t have started better with a key wicket of Marcus Trescothick.Although his figures didn’t flatter him, he bowled with good pace but it is too early to say anything about how he will go in the future although he seems to have a good attitude and loves his cricket.Half-way through the English innings we were looking at chasing 300! Macca [Craig McMillan] started the English collapse with a brilliant run out then some brilliant fielding along with some great bowling from Dan Vettori ment we were only chasing 190.An opening stand of substance which we were lacking in Aussie gave us the best possible start and other than a bit of a hiccup in the middle-order we cruised home courtesy of Nathan Astle and our other find so far this seaon Andre Adams.One-nil and on to Wellington where when we turned up on the morning of the match the pitch resembled something of a farmer’s backyard!Having played in England for a few years I know how the English cricketers mind works and when things sometimes don’t look right they can talk themselves into believing things are worse than what they really are.I got the impression that England were not keen to play because of the wicket and how badly it might play. This attitude affected them all day and in all facets of the match we outplayed them.Everybody in the Black Caps chipped in and buoyed on by the most supportive crowd I have played in front of in New Zealand a most comprehensive win has now seen us needing only one more victory to take the series.England may well bounce back but within our side there is a good feeling and it is great to see young and new guys coming in and performing.Last word goes to Andre Adams who has been in terrific touch and will only get better. His ability with both bat and ball has given the team a real boost and he is growing more confident each match, long may it continue as his exciting play is there for all to see.

HOBART, Dec 20 AAP – Queensland’s Martin Love emphasised his claims for higher honours today by hitting 190 and virtually ensuring there can be only one winner in the Pura Cup match against Tasmania in Hobart.Love’s long innings, a masterpiece of concentration on a variable Bellerive Oval wicket, enabled Queensland to declare its first innings at 8-408.At stumps on the second day, after bad light ended play seven overs early, Tasmania was 2-50, with captain Jamie Cox 19 and Scott Mason 15.Love, 28, must surely be at the top of the queue to go to the West Indies in April as the reserve top order batsman.He’s already hit two double centuries against England this season – for Queensland and Australia A.Love is a serial Tiger tormenter. In his career he’s hit eight centuries against them, all but two over 150.But a double century eludes him. Three times he’s got to the 180s and today’s was his highest score.It wasn’t his most fluent innings and he had his share of luck, but it was head and shoulders above what anyone else could manage on a wicket that sometimes kept alarmingly low and made sweet timing almost impossible.He batted for 514 minutes, hit 28 fours, gave one tough chance last night on 103 and was bowled off a no ball shortly after play resumed this morning.Love and Lee Carseldine, resuming at 4-249, buried Tasmania’s hopes by batting through the morning session.When Carseldine finally went for 55 – the second highest score – just after lunch, they’d put on 156 runs.That started a mini collapse, which included Love when he sliced a drive to gully.The damage, all too late from Tasmania’s point of view, was done by two part-time bowlers, Scott Kremerskothen, who finished with 3-53, and Dan Marsh, 2-79.However some lusty hitting by Wade Seccombe (25 no) and Joe Dawes (19 no) took the Bulls past 400 and enabled Jimmy Maher to declare and leave Tasmania five tricky overs to survive before tea.Cox and Michael Di Venuto did that, but not much more.Di Venuto fell for three – perhaps unluckily given lbw – just after the break and Michael Dighton went shortly afterwards, bowled for eight by Ashley Noffke with a ball that kept outrageously low.However Cox and Mason batted on for a further hour in the growing gloom.

Shortly after the disappointment of losing to New Zealand in the fifth and deciding one day international Marcus Trescothick said, “I’m feeling very tired and looking forward to three days off.”Marcus said that today he was flying with the rest of the England squad to Dunedin ahead of the two day fixture against Otago which starts on Saturday March 2nd.”I’m going to be captain for the two-day match and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.When he was asked if keeping wicket and opening the innings was detrimental to him he said, “I don’t think that doing the two jobs makes any difference to me at all.”Had he lost any weight because on the television shots of him keeping wicket he seemed to be looking thinner? Marcus said, “It’s possible that I have lost weight because I’ve been working very hard indeed.”How did he feel after the result of the fifth one day match. “Of course I’m disappointed but I’m looking forward to the three match test series which gets underway on March 13th, but before that I’m looking forward to skippering the side on Saturday.”During the one day series Marcus said that he had linked up with Somerset team mates Rob Turner and Keith Parsons who have been out watching the series along with a tour party as part of Rob’s benefit year activities. Rob and Keith and the rest of the party fly back to England today.Marcus is a regular reader of the Somerset Website so Good Luck from everybody back in England for the game on Saturday, and everybody hopes that you find a rich vein of form in time for the first test match.

India’s inability to do anything right was typified in Queenstown today when no sooner had the game finished with another predictable New Zealand victory after only 25.4 overs, than the skies opened and the rain that had been threatening fell.But by that stage New Zealand had tucked away the National Bank Series by a seven-wicket margin.It is turning into the least competitive tour in New Zealand’s history of One-Day International series at home.India had no excuses to offer today. It must now be seriously wondered how much issues back at home are playing on this side’s performance. The players have denied it, but then they would.The simple fact of the matter is that India are playing well below anything like the standard that could be expected of a side with their capabilities. A full-house crowd on one of the world’s most spectacular cricket grounds couldn’t even lift the visitors.All 10 of India’s wickets fell for only 84 runs, this after the side made their best start of the series with 38 runs made by Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid who had been relieved of the wicket-keeping gloves to allow 17-year-old Parthiv Patel to make his ODI debut. They were all out for 122.They ran into Andre Adams in full cry on the occasion of his return to international cricket. He achieved a career-best five wickets for 22 runs which was also equal to the second best performance by a New Zealand bowler. He shares the spot with Matthew Hart.What was even more impressive about his effort was the quality of the wickets he took: Sehwag, Dravid, Mohammad Kaif and Dinesh Mongia in the top order.Yuvraj Singh was the only middle-order player to throw out an anchor and attempt to build his innings. But he couldn’t attract anyone to stay with him and he was eventually out attempting a big hit and being caught on the mid-wicket boundary for 25 scored off 61 balls. His was the ninth wicket to fall.It was almost inevitable that India would be out after 43.4 overs, that was equal to the longest innings they have managed in the series.Making their job that much harder was the continued superb fielding of the New Zealanders. They show such enthusiasm in the field that fielding has become another extension of their attack and it is clearly something that offers a challenge to all involved.New Zealand showed when they batted that the pitch held no hidden terrors and sensible, common sense application was rewarded with runs scored at a reasonable pace.The most encouraging thing for New Zealand was the sight of skipper Stephen Fleming getting among the runs for the first time in the one-day series.He scored 47 runs during a 59-ball 92-minute innings which saw New Zealand past the 100-run mark and safely on the way to a comfortable win. There was a freedom about the strokeplay he exhibited that has been for too long and no shot was better than the six he pulled behind backward square leg off Ajit Agarkar.It took the classiest bowler in India’s line-up, Javagal Srinath to dismiss him, courtesy of an edge to second slip Sehwag. Srinath was the only Indian to take a wicket in the match, taking all three for 35 runs off 9.4 overs.Zaheer Khan bowled only two overs having had 15 taken off his second over, 12 of them to Nathan Astle. Astle looked to be set for another blow-out but he had reached 15 when he touched a wider ball from Srinath to first slip Dravid.