New Zealand scrape through to victory

New Zealand 83 for 6 (Harvey 4-17) beat FICA World XI 81 (Knight 43, Cairns 6-12, Wilson 3-6) v New Zealand
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

New Zealand had a taste of their own medicine as they were forced to struggle for their winning runs in the third one-day match against the FICA World XI at Hamilton's Westpac Park.

Having dismissed the World XI for 81, New Zealand were struggling at 65 for 6 after Ian Harvey emulated the bowling feats of Chris Cairns, who took 6 for 12, and Jeff Wilson, who took 3 for 6. They went on to win by four wickets, when the winning runs were scored in the 16th over. New Zealand won the three-match series 2-1.

Harvey claimed 4 for 5, clean-bowling Mathew Sinclair (4), Nathan Astle (23) and Craig McMillan (0), while Scott Styris was trapped leg-before.

Shane Warne then made a bowling change and called up Greg Blewett, who could scarcely believe his luck when Chris Cairns chased a wide ball and sent it out to deep cover where Sanatha Jayasuriya held the catch. That had New Zealand at 65 for 6.

Shane Warne, the World XI captain, won the toss and decided to bat first, and with 37 runs on the board in good time from his openers, Nick Knight and Matthew Elliott, everything looked in good shape.

Then Elliott was out, and Jayasuriya hit a ball from Cairns straight to Wilson in the covers and the rot well and truly set in.

Wilson was introduced to the bowling crease and was given the benefit of a doubtful umpiring decision when Greg Blewett was given out caught behind when the ball clipped the top of his pads.

An amazing sequence was played out in which nine wickets fell for 18 runs. The only batsman to make a sizeable score was Knight, with 43.

Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming set about the chase by putting on 29 runs before Fleming was out. Styris (16), who had not been at his best, struck four fours but was then trapped by Harvey.

It took the combination of Hamish Marshall and Brendon McCullum to restore order to the situation. Marshall lofted a rare boundary through the off side off Blewett, before glancing a ball from Harvey to fine leg for the winning shot.

The teams decided to play a 10-overs-a-side match to compensate the large crowd for their lack of cricket.