Aussies cruise past emotional Kiwis

AFP/Nagpur, India

PUMPED UP: Australia’s Mitchell Johnson celebrates after taking the wicket of New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder during their ICC Cricket World Cup group A match in Nagpur. (AFP

Australia racked up a 25th consecutive World Cup victory yesterday, comfortably defeating New Zealand in a match played out against the raw emotional background of the Christchurch quake.
Australia, the defending champions and aiming for a fourth successive title, won by seven wickets in Nagpur as Mitchell Johnson took 4-33 to help limit the Black Caps to just 206.
Nathan McCullum top-scored for the Kiwis with 52 before Aussie opener Shane Watson hit 62 as the champions reached their target with 16 overs to spare.
"New Zealand are a very competitive team and for us to win as well as we have is pretty satisfying,” said Australian captain Ricky Ponting, whose side sit top of Group A with two wins in two matches.
Earlier, all the players wore black armbands while a minute’s silence was held to remember the victims of the Christchurch earthquake which has claimed at least 113 lives. 
As television cameras panned around the VCA ground they found a small knot of Kiwi fans with one spectator holding aloft a simple message on a plain white piece of paper that said: "Thinking of you Christchurch.”
Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori said: "It would be unfair to the people who are going through a lot worse than we are over here to say that was the reason we didn’t play very well today,” he said.
"We’re professional sportsmen and we have to get up for these games.”
In yesterday’s day-night Group B clash in Dhaka, Ireland bowled out Bangladesh for a modest 205 before a 25,000 sell-out at the
Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
Seamer Andre Botha picked up three wickets and George Dockrell and Trent Johnston claimed two each.
Wickets tumbled at regular intervals in a match Bangladesh had targeted as a must-win after they lost their first match to India by 87 runs at the same venue last week.
The hosts made a blistering start, racing to 49 without loss by the end of the fifth over, 37 of those runs coming from the blade of Tamim Iqbal.
Ireland defeated Bangladesh by 74 runs in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean and then won by six wickets in the World Twenty20 in England in 2009.  Meanwhile, Indian cricket chiefs apologised to thousands of fans left short-changed by the World Cup’s deepening ticket chaos.
Tournament director Ratnakar Shetty, who is also the chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), admitted fans had been let down.
However, he said contractual obligations had complicated ticket distribution.
"We are sorry the fans have been let down,” said Shetty. "We understand their sentiments but we can’t do much.”
On Thursday, frustrations boiled over when baton-wielding police clashed with fans after thousands queued to buy tickets for Sunday’s high-profile clash between India and England at Bangalore’s M. Chinnaswamy stadium. Several people were injured as police attempted to keep order among the throng estimated to be 30,000-strong.
All 7,000 tickets put on sale sold out within hours. Around 3,000 police will be on duty for Sunday’s game, a Bangalore police spokesman said.
India had an injury scare for that game on Friday when in-form opener Virender Sehwag suffered a rib injury in the nets.
But Sehwag, who smashed a blazing 175 in the opening win over Bangladesh, has been passed fit to play.
Australia were not so lucky with fast bowler Doug Bollinger, forced to pull out of the rest of the tournament with an ankle injury.