NEW ZEALAND v ZIMBABWE

At Wellington, January 31. New Zealand won by six wickets. Toss: Zimbabwe.

Thomson and Twose both hit the stumps from narrow angles to remove Grant Flower (when he looked likely to make a big score) and Whittall, and there were two more run-outs in Zimbabwe's innings, by Morrison and Kennedy off their own bowling. To cap a fine home effort in the field, Nash took three for 30, his best limited-overs international figures, and Larsen conceded just 1.4 an over. Andy Flower concluded too late that batting first was an error; Fleming led an easy chase to win with ten overs to spare and New Zealand took the series 2-0. Afterwards, the press were excited by reports that two New Zealanders and a Zimbabwean had been found smoking an unidentified substance. They scented a repeat of the previous year's cannabis incident. Officials from both teams stated firmly that the exotic cigarettes were merely Turkish ones.

Man of the Match: S. P. Fleming.