New Zealand 109 for 7 (Oram 27*, Srinath 4-23) beat India 108 all out (Das 30; Oram 5-26) by 3 wickets with 12.2 overs to spare
Scorecard

New Zealand beat India by three wickets in a match played on a rugby park, as inept batsmen on both sides were rucked and mauled before being sent to the sin bin. While there was certainly something in the drop-in Eden Park pitch for the bowlers, it was nothing like as bad as the batsmen made it out to be. On a pitch where 200 to 220 would have been par, it required two innings to achieve that sort of aggregate. Jacob Oram, who batted almost two hours for his unbeaten 27, was the hero, keeping his nerve as all around him lost theirs.

His superb spell of 5 for 26 earlier in the day had set the stage for a comfortable home win, but Javagal Srinath - who finished with 4 for 23 - and Ashish Nehra bowled quite beautifully to expose a New Zealand line-up short on class, confidence and form. But for Oram's gritty effort with the bat, they might even have given their batsmen a Get-Out-of-Jail card their shocking display clearly didn't deserve.

It's the season of giving but India took generosity to ridiculous extremes. After being sent in to bat by Stephen Fleming, they scaled new heights of ineptitude to be bowled out for 108 in just 32.5 overs. But for a late flurry from Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan, it would have been much worse.

The batsmen started in statuesque zombie mode, the start poor and the denouement even worse. India were without the injured Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Sanjay Bangar and predictably, it was the raw pace of Shane Bond that gave Fleming the first breakthrough. An inswinging yorker, bowled at searing pace, brought the curtain down on Virender Sehwag, whose bat came down about 10 minutes late (5 for 1).

Das, bowled off a Bond no-ball early on, had the footwork of someone stepping out of the pub after a Christmas day bender and Laxman struggled too but they managed to get the score to 28 before Laxman, who made 9, was undone by a short ball from Daryl Tuffey. His attempted hook flew off the top edge to Kyle Mills's hands at backward square leg.

Das rode his luck with a slashed four over slips and a cleverly-placed hook for six off Tuffey while Ganguly signalled his intent with a thump past point off Mills. It was all too good to last though and the slide, when it came, was avalanche-like.

Das - who made 30 - slashed a Mills delivery straight to Fleming at slip (63 for 3), before Oram took centrestage. Ganguly (14) was bowled through the gate and Yuvraj Singh (2) followed the captain's lead, immobile as Nelson in Trafalgar Square, angling one off the face to Nathan Astle at second slip.

The Oram show was far from over though. Mohammad Kaif edged one to Fleming, beaten by some movement off the seam,and Anil Kumble lasted three balls before one nipped back to trap him in front. In the next over, Srinath prodded one to Mathew Sinclair's left at third slip to give him his first five-wicket haul.

Dravid and Zaheer led the belated defiance before Fleming tossed the ball to Vettori, who must have been pondering a request for unemployment benefit. He struck right away, trapping Zaheer leg before, and then ended the innings with a fine catch at mid-on after Dravid (20) tried to loft Tuffey over the infield.

New Zealand's reply started poorly, when Astle edged Srinath to Laxman at second slip, but Fleming and Sinclair scratched around to make it through to tea at 29 for 1. With the lights on, it was India who came out of the break the brighter as Nehra trapped Fleming leg before with one that nipped back. And when Sinclair irresponsibly slashed a Zaheer delivery to Ganguly at point, the loose brick in the wall had become a gaping hole.

India poured through as New Zealand appeared intent on matching their rivals in the clown-like batting stakes. Craig McMillan is in the middle of a horror patch and it wasn't going to get better here as he prodded at one from Srinath to be caught behind. Brendan McCallum followed, beaten by a steepling bouncer that took the glove through to Dravid behind the stumps (52 for 5).

Vincent had chanced his arm for 13, but Nehra cut short his adventures with one that darted back to strike the front pad (52 for 6). That set the stage for Oram to come to the crease and he, along with Mills, took the score to 86 before Srinath came back to inspire a final twist. Again, it was the extra pace and bounce that disconcerted Mills, who could only glove one to Dravid. He made 21 but more importantly, helped Oram to see off the main strike bowlers.

Oram finished the job with Vettori for company. New Zealand have certainly missed Chris Cairns but in Oram, they seem to have a fine allround replacement. As for India, no amount of good bowling could take away from another pathetic showing with the bat. If they keep going like this, New Zealand's travelling circuses may be more than mildly interested. Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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