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| Friday, 2 November 2001 |
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Astle century leads New Zealand fightback BRISBANE, Australia, Thursday (Reuters) - Nathan Astle smashed an unbeaten 160 on Thursday as New Zealand reached 332 for six at the close on the first day of their tour match against Queensland. The tourists, who opted to bat first in the four-day game, lost their first three wickets for 34 runs before Astle and captain Stephen Fleming shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 175. Fleming was out for 69 but Astle remained unbeaten, hitting two sixes and 21 fours in his 272-ball knock. Adam Parore was six not out at the close. Earlier, Matthew Bell, Mark Richardson and Mathew Sinclair fell cheaply to the Queensland pace attack. Chris Cairns hit three fours and two sixes in his innings of 39 off 47 balls, sharing a sixth-wicket partnership of 96 with Astle. Astle, 30, has a test average of 35.28 in 46 matches including six centuries, but against Australia he has made only 286 runs in six games at an average of only 26.00. Andrew Bichel completed figures of two for 54, Ashley Noffke one for 60 and Mitchell Johnson, a 19-year-old left-arm seamer, one for 43. New Zealand's three-test series against Australia starts in Brisbane on November 8. The Black Caps have problems with their bowling attack, going into the match without left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori, who has an ankle injury, and fast bowler Dion Nash, who has an abdominal strain. Fleming, though, expects Nash to be available for the first test. "It's not ideal but there is more value in getting him completely fit for next Thursday because he's been the pick of the bowlers so far," Fleming said. "We possibly came into this game thinking more of our bowling, but you have to play complete cricket over here to be in the game. "I've seen a lot of touring teams in the past play first-class cricket and get thumped before a test match, and that does have an effect so we want to come out of this game feeling pretty good about ourselves." |
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