Oram plunders England ... again

The 138-run stand between Scott Styris and Jacob Oram ensured that New Zealand edged ahead 28-27 in their head-to-head against England

S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna

16-Mar-2007

New Zealand made light of what could have been an awkward run-chase, and cantered to victory with nine overs to spare. Cricinfo looks at the stats highlights from the game.

Jacob Oram: an average of 109 in ODIs against England © Getty Images

With their six-wicket win, New Zealand have edged ahead 28-27 in their head-to-head contests with England. In seven World Cup clashes, New Zealand have won four and lost three.

James Franklin became only the third bowler after Craig McDermott and Chaminda Vaas to take a wicket with the first legitimate ball of a World Cup game. Franklin is the only bowler, though, to achieve this feat in his World Cup debut.

Jacob Oram anchored New Zealand's run-chase with an unbeaten 63, and now averages an incredible 109 in six games against England.

In his three previous games against England, Scott Styris had an aggregate of just 40. His unbeaten 87 helped lift his tally against England to 127, at a healthy average of 63.50.

The 138-run stand between Styris and Oram was their first century partnership, and the second for the fifth wicket in World Cups for New Zealand. In ten bats together, Styris and Oram average 41 per partnership.

Kevin Pietersen became the ninth England batsman to score a fifty-plus score on his World Cup debut. It was his 15th fifty-plus score from 37 ODI innings, and his third in a row.

Meanwhile, Andrew Flintoff's poor run with the bat continued: in his last nine innings, he has scored just 162 runs, at an average of 18. This was also his third duck in World Cups - he has failed to get off the mark in his first innings of each of the last three World Cups. In 11 World Cup innings, he averages just 21.37, with one-half-century.

James Franklin Kevin Pietersen Andrew Flintoff Jacob Oram Scott Styris New Zealand England England vs New Zealand ICC World Cup