THE OVAL (New Zealanders won toss): The New Zealanders beat Surrey by 108 runs

SURREY did their best to make this a carnival occasion but no amount of dancing girls or Maori dancers could atone for a grossly one-sided contest. If Craig McMillan had not got himself out, suddenly trying to play with a feather duster when he had been doing wonderfully well with a howitzer, New Zealand might well have scored 400. McMillan is certainly the least vaunted of the rising international batsmen and New Zealand, as they rather like to be, are the dark horses of the World Cup.

Many more performances like yesterday's and they will not be 20-1 for long. When McMillan, a taller but no less powerfully built version of his country's most commanding right-handed batsman, John Reid, was out, he and Nathan Astle had so pulverised some shoddy bowling on a typically true, hard Oval pitch, that New Zealand had made 133 from 17 overs. After 20, they were 160 for two.

Surrey were indulgent largely because they bowled too full a length and once Matthew Horne had cut Joey Benjamin's second ball of the game to backward point, mayhem ensued. Driving ferociously, McMillan made Astle, who is rated seventh in the world one-day international ratings, seem a relative plodder. His only moment of apprehension on the way to a fifty reached off 32 balls was when Ian Salisbury, running back to chase a stratospheric off-drive off Michael Bell, succeeded only in catching the ball on his head.

Bell was succeeded at the Pavilion End first by Ben Hollioake, then by Mark Butcher, Surrey's acting captain. Hollioake bowled two overs for 32 runs, Butcher a single one for a mere 14. Hollioake's wounds were to some extent self-inflicted, although he recovered to bowl a decent second spell. In his first one he showed a preference for middle and leg, unwise when the boundary on the gasworks' side looked no longer than 65 yards. McMillan's six in that direction was upstaged a few minutes later by one from Astle off Butcher, a pick-up stroke that rebounded into the seats off the roof of The Cricketers' public house.Salisbury bowled tidily enough but still went for five an over. However, as leg spinners sometimes do, he had a bit of help for his wicket. With a century and more at his command, McMillan suddenly attempted a delicate reverse sweep and lobbed a gentle catch to third man.

Stephen Fleming was quickly into his stride with a straight-driven four off Salisbury, but with dark clouds threatening he distracted himself by asking whether he could appeal against the light, and promptly chopped onto his stumps. Astle pressed on to 58 off 71 balls and even with Chris Cairns having a rest there was plenty of batting to come. The evergreen Chris Harris played perhaps the fiercest shot of all, a flat-batted straight six off a good length ball, and Adam Parore, although his wicketkeeping later left something to be desired, fashioned a typically accomplished 66 at a run a ball.

Matthew Hart caught the eye, too, with some crisply timed shots and he later bowled his flattish left-arm orthodox well enough to suggest that he may well be a better bet for the tournament than Daniel Vettori, who has eclipsed him as a Test spinner.

If Surrey were to have any serious chance of getting anywhere near to a target of 329, with the heavyweight batsmen mainly absent and Mark Butcher coming in late because of a migraine, Alistair Brown had to do for them what McMillan had for the Kiwis.

Several muscular blows saw 50 passed in the eighth over against Simon Doull and the newcomer, Carl Bulfin, who is strong, uncomplicated and hits the deck: a more controlled version of the meteoric Heath Davis, perhaps. The contest effectively ended, however, when in successive overs Ward was given out leg-before to the perennial Gavin Larsen and Brown smeared a drive to square-leg.

There was still Hollioake, but after one languid six to the short boundary he was leg-before hitting across the line of a near yorker. Darren Bicknell's worthy fifty and Roger Twose's four wickets were irrelevant to the result.

Surrey will need as many of the big guns as they can muster tomorrow, when a crowd of five thousand or more are expected to come to watch the West Indians.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALANDERS

M J Horne c Hollioake b Benjamin             0
N J Astle c Hollioake b Ratcliffe            58
C D McMillan c Bicknell b Salisbury          86
*S P Fleming b Hollioake                     27
R G Twose c Batty b Ratcliffe                21
†A C Parore not out                          66
C Z Harris c sub b Bell                      22
M N Hart not out                             16

Extras (b 6, lb 11, w 13, nb 2)              32

Total (6 wkts, 50 overs)                     328

I J Ward lbw b Larsen                        17
A D Brown c McMillan b Bulfin                38
B C Hollioake lbw b Doull                    18
J D Ratcliffe b Hart                         21
D J Bicknell c Parore b Twose                55
G P Butcher c and b Harris                   11
*M A Butcher c Bulfin b Hart                 15
†J N Batty st Parore b Twose                 21
I D K Salisbury c McMillan b Twose           10
M A V Bell c Bulfin b Twose                  2
J E Benjamin not out                         1

Extras (lb 4, w 7)                           11

Total (49.5 overs)                           220