McCullum's miss ends New Zealand comeback hopes

Cricket: Indian bowling attack rips through Kiwis' batting line-up as route to semi-finals opens up for Sri Lankans

Chasing New Zealand's meagre total of 146, India were in trouble on 22 for 3 when the chance to control their destiny came along. The wicket of Sachin Tendulkar had just fallen to an excellent catch in the gully and Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, was urging his side to go for it. A place in the last four of the 2003 World Cup was at stake and it was theirs if they pulled off an unexpected victory in front of large, raucous and mainly Indian crowd.

Shane Bond, the "Black Caps" strike bowler, was in full flow with two wickets to his name. He had made short work of the opener, Virender Sehwag, and the Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, and was looking to add to his tally. The fourth ball of Bond's third over was there to be driven but the shot was loosish for a player of Rahul Dravid's class. He edged it and the chance flew to the right hand of the wicketkeeper at a perfect height.

It was a catch Brendan McCullum would expect to take 95 times out of a 100 but, feeling the pressure of the occasion, his hands let him down. Soft, accommodating palms were replaced by a hard, unwelcome snatch. The ball went in, came out and hit the ground. Fleming looked on helplessly from first slip. Both he, McCullum and the rest of New Zealand knew their chance had gone. And it had. The stranglehold they had taken on the game was released immediately and it allowed India to stroll home by seven wickets thanks to an intelligent unbroken stand of 129 between Dravid and Mohammed Kaif.

"All dropped catches are costly and at that moment we were on a roll," Fleming said. "To win the game we had to take every chance and we didn't."

New Zealand now have an anxious day waiting for the outcome of today's match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The Kiwis need Zimbabwe to beat Sri Lanka to go through to Tuesday's semi-final against Australia. Their problem is that Zimbabwe are more fragile than McCullum's glove-work.

McCullum is not alone in dropping a catch that, in all probability, cost his side their place in this World Cup. Mark Boucher, the South African wicketkeeper, grassed Fleming in Johannesburg almost a month ago and this was as responsible for their downfall as the rain in Durban.

In the field, New Zealand tried hard to make up for their awful batting display but, other than the odd attacking stroke which just evaded a fielder, further chances failed to come their way. Fleming rotated his bowlers well and constantly changed the field, but the effect on Dravid and Kaif was minimal. With run-rate never an issue, the pair batted in Test match mode.

New Zealand could not have had a worse start after being invited to bat by Ganguly. In a fiery opening Zaheer Khan took wickets with the second and third balls of the match. And it was a position from which they were never to recover as India's bowlers kept the pressure on batsman who took the wrong option far too often.