Brian Vitori finished with the horror figures of 9-0-105-1
A violent turn from the openers and a brutal, well-paced 88-ball 119 from Brendon McCullum propelled New Zealand to 373 for 8 in the third one-dayer in Napier. The hosts' second consecutive score in excess of 370 was built on the 153-run opening stand between Martin Guptill and Rob Nicol, before a busy middle patch and a frenzied finish helped New Zealand eclipse their total in Whangarei by a run.
McCullum played a controlled knock to begin with, following the openers' demise, letting Jacob Oram maintain the tempo, before settling in alongside Kane Williamson. The lifeless surface and lacklustre fielding allowed the batsmen to progress with little risk, and McCullum seemed intent to take his side to the end himself. He stayed close to a run-a-ball throughout his innings, surviving a dropped catch on 48, before launching in the 43rd over, to hurtle past 100, as the New Zealand score grew enormous.
His finish was set up by Guptill and Nicol, who began laying into the Zimbabwe attack almost immediately, as they carried New Zealand's Whangarei barrage into the dead rubber. Utterly unafraid of a pedestrian attack that had failed to test them throughout the tour, the pair had seemingly decided they would test themselves; by igniting the New Zealand innings at the most furious pace yet. Both men marched towards the bowlers - sometimes before they were even in their delivery stride - using the momentum to hit straight if the bowler stuck to his length, or dropping back quickly to slam it square when the ball was banged in.
Nicol survived two close calls, one lbw shout that was overturned on review, and a top-edged pull that was predictably shelled, but apart from those early stutters, precious little troubled the openers. They blasted seven sixes and 13 fours between them, to hammer a second consecutive century-stand and as they took their combined half-centuries tally to five in three matches. Only Nicol missed out in the first ODI of the series.
Zimbabwe's bowlers rarely bowled two balls in the same place, but their woes were not all their own making against batsmen so cocksure, they could dispatch any ball in their chosen direction. Guptill favoured the leg side, characteristically moving around the crease to pepper the ropes there with an array of sweeps, paddles, pulls and pick-ups. Nicol meanwhile preferred to manipulate length by advancing, dumping two balls over square leg.
They raced to 83 from 10 overs before spin and a spread-out field stymied the breakneck pace somewhat. While Nicol reined in his game, Guptill continued to attack, beating the field with innovation, rather than power and timing. When Brendan Taylor brought in fine leg to push long-off back, Guptill shoveled the next ball over his shoulder. When the leg side was strengthened, he shuffled to leg to send the ball screeching through the covers.
The partnership was eventually broken at 153 at the end of the 21st over when Nicol was lbw to Prosper Utseya. Guptill lurched out of the crease next ball, and knotted himself up as he attempted return to safety. Zimbabwe had dismissed their chief tormentors of the series, but were about to encounter another blight in McCullum, who had missed out so far.
Jacob Oram was promoted to No. 3 again, but managed only 25 this time, falling to a short ball from Jarvis that he tried to slap over point. Kane Williamson accumulated well alongside McCullum through the middle overs and even threaded a volley of leg-side boundaries as the death approached, but failed to convert once more, falling just as McCullum grew more belligerent.
Nathan McCullum partnered his brother for only seven balls, but managed 21 from them, including three successive sixes off Brian Vitori's thigh-high full tosses in the 45th over, before Andrew Ellis ran himself out trying to complete McCullum's hundredth run. The hapless Vitori marked his return to the XI by becoming only the fourth bowler to concede over 100 runs in an ODI innings, and that despite bowling one over short.
Latham smacked a six in the last over, and McCullum got himself out trying to finish with another - as they did in Whangarei. Zimbabwe's death bowling was poor, but against an opposition at complete ease with their pace and skill, even good balls were slammed with nonchalance.
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