Oram seals America's fate after Astle's hundred

50 overs New Zealand 347 for (Astle 145*, Styris 75, McMillan 64*) beat USA 139 (Oram 5-36) by 210 runs

Nathan Astle's sizzling 145, and his electric partnership with Craig McMillan, ensured that New Zealand came away with a crushing 210-run win in their opening match of the Champions Trophy. Some heavy rains might have forced a delayed start to the match at The Oval, but the last few overs saw a torrential downpour of sixes as Astle and McMillan clattered 136 off just 7.4 overs. Jacob Oram then went about inscribing the gravestone with three wickets in one over and the Americans could muster just 137.

On a day of record-hunting, Astle's was the second-highest score by a New Zealander in one-dayers behind Glenn Turner's 171 not out in the 1975 World Cup against an East African team also making its international debut. Scott Styris's 75 off 78 balls was crucial in giving the innings momentum, but it was eclipsed by pillaging 64 off just 27 balls by McMillan, the sixth-fastest fifty in all one-dayers. All this meant that New Zealand amassed 347, the highest score in the history of the Champions Trophy.

That total though was a distant possibility after the first 15 overs of the New Zealand innings. Tony Reid and Howard Johnson - the new-ball pair who share 82 years between them - were disciplined at a military-medium pace and used the murky conditions to good effect. Stephen Fleming and Hamish Marshall fell to indiscreet strokes, and Styris joined Astle with a wobble on at 43 for 2.

Both eschewed the risky shots and hardly lofted over the infield. They played the percentages by picking the gaps and running swiftly. As the nerves settled, the Americans began to flounder in the field and a period of consolidation was underway. Astle cashed in on any width offered, and his slap through the covers produced rich dividends. Once they reached the 30th over, at 140 for 2, both pressed the accelerator with relish. They added 65 between the 30th and 40th overs before Styris fell, trying to clear the field, (206 for 3).

Astle carried on to his 14th one-day hundred, before tearing into the bowling. Chris Cairns fell for only 3, but McMillan arrived with the red-hot hammer. Smacking five sixes in the arc between midwicket and long-off, McMillan raced to his fifty in just 21 balls. Astle, though, was revving it up even faster as his last 58 runs came in just 20. Stunningly the first of the 13 sixes in the innings came in the fifth ball of the 43rd over. Considering the range that some of the balls traveled, they could even been termed 'tens'.

Despite receiving such a pounding, the American openers, Alexander and Mark Johnson, came out fighting. Johnson, the left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman, flashed at anything wide of the stumps and scored at faster than a run-a-ball. Both added 52 in just nine overs and pride, if not anything else, was there for the taking. But that was when an eight-ball spell caused the wheels to come off.

Oram struck in first ball of the 10th over with Johnson angling a short ball to the wicketkeeper. Two balls later, Leon Romero edged a good-length ball straight into the hands of Scott Styris in the slips. Steve Massiah's dismissal, in the fifth ball of the over, was almost a mirror image of Johnson's wicket as Brendon McCullum accepted his second catch. Chris Cairns struck in his second ball, in the 11th over, as Richard Staple was lbw for a first-ball duck (55 for 4).

In a space of eight balls, USA had lost four wickets for three runs, two of which were wides. Clayton Lambert, the former West Indian opener, laboured to a 84-ball 39 and, along with Jignesh Desai, delayed the burial. Daniel Vettori, the hero of the NatWest Series triumph a few months back, had a good work-out with 3 for 14. Oram finished with 5 for 39 as USA were crumbled for 137.

USA might be reeling from this defeat, but they play Australia next on September 13. By the looks of it, the record books might need a revisit at the Rosebowl.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is on the staff of Wisden Cricinfo.