Kane Williamson’s knock sets up Kiwi series win vs Zimbabwe

187 Runs scored by Williamson in this series – the third highest by a New Zealand captain from three or fewer matches in an ODIs series.

New Zealand batted first and after starting cautiously finished strongly in a total of 273 for six wickets from 50 overs.

The tourists were without key batsman Ross Taylor, who was ruled out of the remainder of their tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa when he suffered a blow to the groin in training on Thursday and required minor surgery. The innings came to a grinding halt in the 48th over on 235 as Mitchell McClenaghan picked up the final wicket to finish with figures of 3 for 36.

The two sides now have a day’s rest before returning to face each other in a one-off Twenty-20 worldwide on Sunday evening.

It needed a shot of New Zealand energy and McClenaghan provided it with an aggressive second spell.

Zimbabwe was bowled out for 235 in 47,4 overs.

Hamilton Masakadza hit a half century while Chamu Chibhabha made 32, but once the two openers were out, Zimbabwe never regained control of the match. James Neesham will replace Taylor, while Ben Wheeler comes in place of Matt Henry. The slide continued as Williamson was caught brilliantly on the boundary for 90 off Nyumbu, the off-spinner. But a surprise win in the first match of the New Zealand series snapped the futility streak.

Williamson highlighted New Zealand’s fielding effort, something he said they had wanted to tighten after Zimbabwe had chased down a 300-plus target in game one. Adam Milne though remained on the sidelines as New Zealand is not looking to rush him back into the team, preferring to give him sufficient time to recover from what coach Mike Hesson described as “a slight niggle”.

Although the Kiwis lost openers, Williamson along with Grant Elliott, helped New Zealand cross the 200-run mark. Pakistan’s Javed Miandad holds the world record of nine straight.