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This would have been a great game to watch if you're a New Zealand fan, but for a Zimbabwe fan it was something more akin to self-torture. Batting first, New Zealand scored a massive 397/5 from 44 overs, leaving Zimbabwe with an essentially impossible task during their innings. Read on for more details...

The start of play was delayed due to dampness in the pitch, with the game being reduced to 44 overs each as a result. Tatenda Taibu won the toss and elected to field, but it was all downhill from there - New Zealand scored essentially at will, at one stage picking up 50 runs from just 18 balls, eventually finishing at 397/5 from the allotted 44 overs - the second-highest ODI score recorded. Zimbabwe's fielding was not particularly good, with Vincent dropped by Anthony Ireland on 18 before going on to 172. When wickets did eventually begin to fall, it seemed more due to over-enthusiasm on the part of the New Zealand batsmen than good work on the part of the Zimbabwean bowlers.

Highlights in the field included a superb catch by Prosper Utseya to finally remove Vincent, and debut bowling figures for Ireland of 2 for 52, making him the best of the Zimbabwean bowlers.

Faced with a required run rate of 9 an over, Zimbabwe's batsmen settled into damage-limitation mode, seeking only to last the full 44 overs to salvage some pride. The first 10 over passed with only 30 runs on the board, before openers Taylor and Carlisle stepped on the gas, with the next 30 runs coming in just 3 overs, thanks in part to some poor bowling from Cairns. Luck was also on Zim's side, with Taylor dropped by McCullum with the score on 60, and a run-out attempt the previous over missing the stumps before going for 4 overthrows. Luck ran out at 62 runs, though, when Taylor was caught by Styris off Cairns' bowling for 36, with Carlisle following, lbw off Oram for 25 with the score at 75.

Coventry brought up the 100 in the 20th over, in which an impressive 18 runs were scored (17 of them by Coventry), while a typically Zimbabwean mid-order collapse took place around him. He eventually holed out for 25, caught on the boundary by Mills off the bowling of Adams, the 6th wicket to fall.

Streak put up some fight from the tail while Taibu and Mawhire (who survived a nasty knock to the faceguard in the 35th) came and went, before eventually being bowled by Mills for 45, making him Zimbabwe's top scorer. The end came at the end of the 43rd over, when Ewing was run out for 20, leaving Zim's final score at 205 all out.

In any other game the Zimbabwean innings would have been half-way reasonable, but chasing the huge target set by the Black Caps with a run rate that started around 5 an over and never really improved was never going to work. True to recent form, there were some flashes of form from Zim - in the batting at least - but as usual they weren't able to keep the good performances going for the full 88 overs. On a good batting track, the bowling simply wasn't up to the task of controlling the New Zealand batsmen, while the fielding was described by Taibu himself as "pathetic". There's some good that Kevin Curran can hopefully build on, but Zim were far from being good enough on the day.

New Zealand 397 for 5 from 44 overs, Zimbabwe 205 all out from 43 overs
New Zealand win by 192 runs.

Full scorecard is available at CricInfo, along with the usual "enough of the slaughter" comments.