Batting first, Zimbabwe were 106 for six wickets before they recovered to reach 252 for seven wickets.

And after 25 overs of their chase, New Zealand were 116 for three wickets with Nathan Astle on 30 and Chris Cairns on 12.

New Zealand didn't try to rush it from the start as they scored around four runs an over. Zimbabwe did start the innings knowing they could have lost their key spin bowler Brian Murphy who suffered a calf strain while warming up during the drinks break.

Openers Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan put on 27 before McMillan flashed at a wider ball from Douglas Hondo and the edge flew to wicket-keeper Talenda Taibu. He had been very much the junior partner and scored eight.

Fleming, by comparison, slipped quickly into the groove he has occupied throughout the World Cup and was scoring at around a run a ball through the early stages of his innings. He was timing the ball nicely, especially when the Zimbabwe bowlers strayed onto his leg stump.

Zimbabwe also suffered another blow when Hondo, who fell over when bowling his wicket-taking ball, had to leave the field after his fourth over for treatment to a foot injury.

Nathan Astle started slowly and left the scoring at pace to Fleming. A significant boost to the scoring came in the 11th over when 16 runs were taken, 12 of them from boundaries hit by Fleming at Heath Streak's expense.

Astle gave an indication of his gathering confidence with a well-played square cut from Hondo's bowling after he had changed ends to replace Streak.

But bowling around the wicket, Andy Blignaut got one through Fleming's defences and his innings of 46 ended when he was trapped leg before wicket. He faced 42 balls during his innings and departed with New Zealand at 72 for two wickets.

Zimbabwe struck another blow when setting the trap for the hook shot by Scott Styris. Blignaut was the bowler who again got the desired reaction as Styris hooked but couldn't clear substitute fieldsman Travis Friend on the boundary.

Styris scored 13 off 22 balls.

It was then left to Astle and Cairns to regain the initiative.

Zimbabwe scored 101 runs off the last 10 overs.

Skipper Heath Streak hit 72 not out off 84 balls while Sean Ervine scored 31 off 14 balls.

After being 106 for six wickets, Zimbabwe looked out of the contest. But there was no faulting the rebuilding job done by the side.

It was the master and his apprentice as Tatenda Taibu was joined by Streak in a laboured partnership of recovery. Coming together after 23 overs, they worked the ball around

And by the 40th over, they had added only another 45 runs.

However, when captain Stephen Fleming brought in Nathan Astle to bowl the 41st over, Taibu hit the first ball over backward square leg for six runs and the runs never stopped coming.

Taibu's shot also brought up the 50 partnership for the pair, off 97 balls. Taibu also celebrated his highest score in One-Day Internationals when reaching 36.

By the 43rd over, he had secured his maiden half-century after 26 ODIs. He took 73 balls and hit one six and three fours.

The New Zealand bowlers had all been tight in their bowling apart from Andre Adams.

Jacob Oram was again a handful for the batsmen, sending down four maidens in his 10 overs which saw him take one for 28.

Shane Bond also bowled through the first half of the innings and had none for 37 from his 10 overs.

Chris Harris was especially effective with only nine runs off his first five overs. And he finally made the breakthrough which ended the 66-run stand when he punished Taibu for the risky paddle shot he had been playing throughout his innings.

While it had been successful previously, this time he failed to connect as he made an exaggerated move to stretch down the wicket. The ball hit him on his back pad and he was given out leg before wicket for 53 off 79 balls. Zimbabwe were 174 for seven wickets.

The last over from Harris proved an over too far as 23 runs came from it to ruin his bowling figures. Streak hit two sixes to mid-wicket and Sean Ervine cut four and then off-drove another boundary.

Streak brought up the seventh half-century of his career with his second six, off 76 balls.

Daniel Vettori came in for some treatment as well with two fours off the first and third balls of the 49th over. That brought up the 50 stand between the pair off 30 balls.

At one stage, Zimbabwe had taken 33 runs off nine balls.

Andre Adams came in to bowl the last over, but his first ball was ruled a no-ball which went for four. The second ball went for four through cover as Streak opened out.

Off the first ball in the over that Ervine faced, the ball flew over mid-wicket for six, and then the next ball went to wide mid-wicket for four. The coup de grace came with four mis-fielded off the last ball as Zimbabwe reached a highly-competitive 252 for seven wickets.

After 25 overs, Zimbabwe, who chose to bat first, were 110 for six wickets with Cairns having taken two wickets, his first of the tournament, and Astle having completed a vital run out.

Astle struck an outstanding blow to run out Andy Flower with a direct hit from mid-off.

Flower was looking easily the most accomplished of the Zimbabwe batsmen, but he paid the price for what was an unnecessarily risky single at that stage of the game.

Having scored 38 off 61 balls, including a beautifully on-driven boundary earlier in the over bowled by Andre Adams, Flower played the ball gently to mid-off and then set off for the run as Astle fielded the ball cleanly and executed a superb throw.

Zimbabwe's lower-order were left exposed at 98 for five wickets after 22 overs.

Compounding his dismissal two overs later was the hairline run out of Andy Blignaut when Brendon McCullum raced around from behind the stumps, took off the glove of his right hand and threw the ball to Daniel Vettori at the bowler's end.

Vettori broke the wicket as Blignaut, who had been send back by Tatenda Taibu, dived for his ground, with the base of his bat not grounded behind the crease. Umpire Rudi Koertzen gave Blignaut out without referring to the third umpire, a brave move for such a close call.

Shane Bond opened superbly again for New Zealand and, from the first delivery, he had the ball jagging back into the batsman. Craig Wishart played and was beaten from five of the balls delivered. Bond mustered good speed and when he bowled to Andy Flower for the first time, he beat him twice with balls that moved across him and just missed catching the edge.

Dion Ebrahim wasn't so lucky when facing the less accurate Andre Adams.

Five runs from a wide off the first ball he bowled were followed by a second ball closer to the line of off stump which Ebrahim sparred at with no movement of his feet. He paid the price when the ball rebounded onto his middle stump. Zimbabwe were five for one wicket.

A pull shot by Wishart off the last ball of the second Adams over produced the first boundary off the bat, while Flower showed his class amid all the problems he was having with Bond as he powered into a lovely extra cover drive for the first boundary of his innings.

Adams bowled only three overs and had one for 17 before Jacob Oram replaced him and opened with successive maidens which, after 10 overs, had Zimbabwe 32 for one wicket.

Bond was replaced, after six overs which cost 21 runs, by Cairns for the 13th over at which point Zimbabwe were 46 for one wicket.

Before the over, he had bowled only four overs in the tournament to date, and they were at a cost of 38 runs. Unfortunately, he conceded nine first up to match the economy rate he had achieved in the tournament

He tried a slower ball to Wishart which was pulled to mid-wicket for four runs and which brought up the Zimbabwe 50, and when another pull shot to wide mid-wicket off the next ball also reached the boundary, the 50-run partnership came up off 68 balls.

Flower also managed a back-foot cover drive from Oram in the next over.

But Cairns responded well to his first over and bowled a much tighter line and when he got a leg cutter to bite off the pitch, Wishart was undone as the ball took a healthy edge and flew to Scott Styris at slip. Wishart scored 30 runs from 50 balls and Zimbabwe were 59 for two and when the over, the 15th, was finished they were 61 for two wickets.

Grant Flower joined his brother but facing the tall Oram, he was unable to get onto an attempted hook shot with sufficient effect and the ball flew comfortably to Cairns at backward square leg and he held the catch to remove Flower for one.

Guy Whittall never looked the assured batsman who has caused New Zealand so many problems in the past, and it was no surprise when he played a poor shot to a fuller-length ball from Cairns and touched the ball on its way through to wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum who held the catch. In the space of 18 balls, Zimbabwe had lost three wickets for six runs.

As improved as the bowling results were, there were still too many wides from the New Zealanders for their comfort should they continue in later matches in the Super Six.

That will put the pressure on a New Zealand attack which has been below peak form in their last two outings.

Andy Flower has been a constant batting thorn in New Zealand's side and will be a key wicket for Zimbabwe, but also helping the Zimbabwe side is Craig Wishart, the best batsman in his side at this World Cup.

While skipper and fast bowler Heath Streak is well known and respected by the New Zealanders, the newer fast bowler Andy Blignaut will be an important factor in the Zimbabwe attack.

Zimbabwe and New Zealand have played out some interesting One-Day Internationals over the years and the Zimbabweans won't have forgotten that when they last met, in New Zealand in the summer of 2000/01, Zimbabwe won the series 2-1. Earlier, at home, Zimbabwe had also won 2-1.

But New Zealand could claim that in the most important match the two teams played in that home and away summer of three matches each, it was the game on neutral territory in Kenya that was the most important, and New Zealand won that as the first step on their way to winning the ICC KnockOut tournament.

These are different teams, however. Since then, Shane Bond, Andre Adams, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum have emerged on the international stage.

Similarly, Zimbabwe have undergone personnel changes as well.

The game is make or break for both sides if they wish to progress further in the World Cup.

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Scott Styris, Daniel Vettori. (12th man - Daryl Tuffey).

Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (captain), Andy Blignaut, Dion Ebrahim, Sean Ervine, Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Douglas T Hondo, Brian Murphy, Tatenda Taibu, Guy Whittall, Craig Wishart. (12th man -Travis Friend).

The umpires are: Darrell Hair (Australia) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).