Images: New Zealand vs Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe openers began the proceedings on a positive note, after they were invited to bat by New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.

Hamilton Masakadza got the ball rolling, hitting first boundary for Zimbabwe, when he slog swept Nathan McCullum, who opened the innings once again.

Tatenda Taibu at the other end, took on pacey Shane Bond, first whacking him for a boundary cover point, then played a super shot through backward point for another boundary.

Tim Southee proved the first breakthrough for Black Caps, when he had Taibu caught at square-leg by Jacob Oram for a breezy 21 for 14 balls.

But Zimbabwe soon lost their way as they lost wickets at regular intervals. After Taibu, it was Masakadza's turn to go back to the pavilion as he found himself short of his crease.

Big hitting Andy Blignaut came and hit a boundary, before he was cleaned up by Daniel Vettori for just eight runs.

But then calamity struck Zimbabwe as they lost three wickets off McCullum over to reduce them to 63 for six from a comfortable 59 for two.

McCullum in his second spell, first picked up Elton Chigumbura, who tried to hit out of the situation only to spoon it to Martin Guptill for three runs.

Two balls later he sent Charles Coventry back to the pavilion, when the left-hander lobbed an easy catch back to the bowler.

He then enticed Craig Ervine to chip down the track, but he misread the flight of the ball, and was easily stumped by Gareth Hopkins for just one.

And finally Scott Styris joined the party as he picked another three wickets in one over as hapless Zimbabwe were bundled out for 84.

Chasing 85 for a win, New Zealand made 36 for one from 8.1 overs before rain interrupted play with Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill at the crease on 22 and six respectively.

At that time, New Zealand were seven runs ahead of par score under D/L method.

Rain stopped after around one hour but confusion prevailed as the target was revised twice as players were out to resume play only to end it abruptly.

After the first revision, the target for New Zealand was 45 from 11 overs but had to be changed to 40 from 10 overs. But all of a sudden, the match ended apparently because the ground was not ready for resumption of play after the heavy rain.