Southee leads Kiwi bowling to skittle Zimbabwe for 162

Ahmedabad: Paceman Tim Southee led a disciplined New Zealand bowling show to skittle Zimbabwe for 162 runs in their World Cup Group A match at the Sardar Patel Stadium on Friday.

Southee bowled full and fast to pick up three wickets for 29 while captain Daniel Vettori and Kyle Mills picked up two wickets apiece.

The New Zealand fast bowlers stuck to a good line and length and were difficult to score off barring a few boundaries here and there.

Zimbabwe got off to a poor start after captain Elton Chigumbura opted to bat first on a placid pitch.

The run out of opener Charles Coventry in the second over of the morning put Zimbabwe on the back-foot early and the New Zealand bowlers ensured their opponents never recovered from there.

The maximum damage was done within the first 15 overs of the innings when Zimbabwe lost half their side with just 46 runs on the board.

Opener Brendan Taylor (44) put up some resistance and along with Greg Lamb added 40 runs for the sixth wicket, which helped Zimbabwe get past three figures.

Prosper Utseya, with a gritty knock of 36 managed to take the African nation past the 150-run mark.

Zimbabwe brought in Regis Chakabva and Tinashe Panyangara for the injured Sean Williams and Chris Mpofu while Mills returned from a back injury to bolster the pace attack in place of batsman Jamie How. Both teams are looking to register their second win in the tournament.