MUMBAI, India (CMC):

Captain Stephen Fleming stroked a solid half-century and his bowlers supported effectively for New Zealand to whip South Africa by 87 runs in the first Group B match of the ICC Champions Trophy yesterday.

Sent to bat, New Zealand struggled to 195 all out in 45.4 overs and South Africa failed to threaten them, crashing to 108 all out off just 34.1 overs as the trend of low scores continued in the tournament.

Flimsy effort

For New Zealand, pacers Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills and off-spinner Jeetan Patel equally shared nine wickets after Fleming's outstanding knock of 89 had propped up an otherwise flimsy batting effort.

Fleming's innings boosted the New Zealand total as he struggled to secure any meaningful partnerships, apart from his 47-run second-wicket stand with Nathan Astle (14).

Wicketkeeper/batsman Bren-don McCullum was the second highest scorer with 21 and he shared in a 36-run stand for the sixth wicket with his captain.

Fleming struck 11 boundaries and faced 112 balls before falling 11 runs short of a hundred - flicking pacer Jacques Kallis to Shaun Pollock at fine leg to be ninth out with the score on 192 for nine.

Kallis (3-28) and Robin Peterson (2-34) were the chief wicket-takers for South Africa, who struggled from the start of their innings when they replied.

Mills and Oram knocked off the top order and only a fighting top score of 42 from captain Graeme Smith prevented the Africans from suffering a heavier defeat.

Smith struck five boundaries and faced 57 balls and Justin Kemp (26 not out) was the only other batsman offering any measure of resistance.

Mills picked up three for 18 off six overs and Oram bagged three for 26 off eight, before off-spinner Patel sliced through the lower order to finish with three for 11 off 3.1 overs.