World Cup: Southee, McCullum crush England

Wellington, Feb 20 (IANS) A stunning display of swing bowling from seamer Tim Southee and devastative batting from skipper Brendon McCullum, both record-setting acts, orchestrated New Zealand's eight-wicket annihilation of England in a World Cup Pool A match here Friday.

Right-arm swing bowler Southee (7-33 in nine overs) ripped through the England batting to dump them to a dismal 123 all out in 33.2 overs at the Westpac Stadium. It was New Zealander’s best bowling in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and the World Cup and the third best by any bowler in the tournament's 11 editions.

His supreme display, four of his wickets being clean bowled after England won the toss and chose to bat, set up the tournament co-hosts' comprehensive victory.

And the reins were taken over from there by McCullum, whose onslaught ensured that New Zealand chased down the total in just 12.2 overs. Opening the batting with Martin Guptill (22), he launched a stunning attack on the hapless England bowlers to blitz to a 25-ball 77. The captain brought up his half-century in 18 balls.

It was fastest fifty in the tournament's 40-year old history and third fastest in ODIs.

He carted the formidable quick bowling trio of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn all over the park in an innings ornamented by seven huge sixes and eight boundaries, which compounded England's misery.

Earlier, England batsmen virtually staged a procession as they came and went back to the pavilion in super quick succession. Only Joe Root (46) put on some sort of a resistance.

The procession was started by Ian Bell (8) in the fifth over when he was castled by Southee and ended in the 34th over when Root was caught in the deep.

Southee bowled with control and venom, harassing the English with his outswing in a fearsome opening spell before returning to rip through the lower order. The last seven English wickets fell for 19 runs.

Both teams went in with unchanged line-ups.

New Zealand have now won all of their three matches while England succumbed to their second straight loss.

Brief Scores: England 123 all out in 33.2 overs (Joe Root 46, Mon Ali 20; Tim Southee 7-33, Daniel Vettori 1-19); New Zealand 125 for two in 12.2 overs (Brendon McCullum 77, Martin Guptill 22; Chris Woakes 2-8).