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World Cup: Astle makes England pay for sloppy fielding display

New Zealand (239-6) beat England (228-9) by 11 runs

Weather adds to England worries

The sixth World Cup got off to a flying start in Ahmedabad yesterday. On a warm, clear day, in an area best known as the home of Mahatma Gandhi, New Zealand's underdogs had the better of England and won the first match of the tournament by 11 runs.

New Zealand played delightful, uncomplicated cricket. They bowled straight, fielded tidily and batted with flair. Best of all the unsung captain, Lee Germon, took brave initiatives when they were most needed and kept his head when England threatened a rearguard near the end.

Germon had thought that the toss would matter as the pitch had a tacky feel to its top and that his seam attack would enjoy the chance to bowl. As it turned out there was little in the surface after Michael Atherton had put New Zealand in.

Mind you, England gave New Zealand their head by dropping four catches none especially difficult and letting themselves down with pedestrian, at times sloppy, fielding.

The first drop was the one that mattered, when Graham Thorpe at slip put down Nathan Astle, who had just a single, from a late out- swinger by Dominic Cork. The others were endemic of an England team performing below their ability.

Thanks to the superfluous nature of the round-robin matches, this defeat should not upset English aspirations of a quarter- final place, though the rain in Pakistan and the possibility of the United Arab Emirates picking up points from abandoned matches alters the picture. Come Monday night and more rain, the Emirates could have two points and England one. Should they both beat Holland and lose their other games, the unthinkable could happen.

After his escape against Cork, Astle went at the England bowlers with relish

Still, let us celebrate the cricketers of New Zealand, who were as sharp as you like from dawn until dusk. Best of them was the 24-year-old man of the match, Astle, who made his third international limited-overs hundred since November.

After his escape against Cork, Astle went at the England bowlers with relish, first easing Peter Martin through cover and then dancing down the pitch and clipping the same bowler into the delirious crowd at midwicket. Next he pulled Dar- ren Gough, then he crashed Cork past point.

After the initial flurry - Astle reached his fifty off 65 balls and New Zealand had made 90 for the loss of Craig Spearman by the 20th over - he settled into the anchor role, picking the gaps and dovetailing with Chris Cairns, who thumped 36 from 30 balls.

Astle, a compact right-hander, was equally strong off front and back foot and has the gift of driving at the top of the ball's bounce, which made him awkward to restrict. It may be that New Zealand have found someone special or it may just have been his day, but few better innings will be played during the next month.

The England bowlers stuck at it and were rewarded, crucially, with the wickets of Astle and Cairns either side of the 200 mark. They had nipped both Stephen Fleming and Roger Twose in the bud and, with some miserly yorkers, managed to keep their opponents' suspect middle order to just 43 for the loss of three wickets in the last 10 overs. Even so, the total was comfortably the highest in a one-day international at Ahmedabad and England needed one of their own to play an exceptional innings.

Graeme Hick did but not for quite long enough. Hick had been unable to complete his bowling because of a hamstring niggle and he emerged, after the early loss of his captain, with a runner, who was also Atherton. Now, in his partnership with Alec Stewart, England looked the business.

Perhaps the accuracy of this intelligent, defensive bowling preyed on the mind of England

Stewart had his footwork back in good order, and Hick was sublime, cutting and pulling with great economy. It seemed that nothing could stop Hick: not the loss of Stewart, who drove early at the accurate slow mediums of Chris Harris, not the loss of Thorpe, who was out of touch, nor even the crafty captaincy of Germon, who used Harris's 'dobbers' to deny England a boundary between the 20th and 33rd overs, when they stuttered along at four an over.

Perhaps the accuracy of this intelligent, defensive bowling preyed on the mind of England, perhaps Neil Fairbrother simply misjudged the solidity of his drive to cover. Whatever, the game turned on the run-out of Hick who stood helpless and for- lorn at square leg as the Lancashire pair, Fairbrother and Atherton, hesitated long enough for Twose, who was due a spectacular moment in his first match against the country of his birth, to throw accurately after his dive and stop at ex- tra cover.

With Hick gone, New Zealand scented victory and by taking the pace off the ball dared England to come at them. England hit out and perished, while New Zealand high-fived and partied.