Christchurch, New Zealand: Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson made half-centuries as New Zealand reached 331-8 after batting first against South Africa in one of four Cricket World Cup warmup matches Wednesday.
McCullum made 59 from 45 balls at Hagley Oval with seven fours and a six, while Williamson had 66 from 53 balls with nine boundaries to lead New Zealand to a formidable total on the ground where it will play its opening World Cup match against Sri Lanka in two days.
Dale Steyn was missing from the South Africa attack, leaving Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel to share the new ball.
Sri Lanka made 279-8, batting after winning the toss in its warmup against Zimbabwe. After being 85-3, half centuries by Dimuth Karunaratne and Jeevan Mendis settled the Sri Lanka innings.
At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, captain Michael Clarke was in the lineup as Australia won the toss and elected to bat first against the United Arab Emirates.
Clarke is recovering from hamstring surgery and has been given until Feb. 21, when Australia takes on Bangladesh in Brisbane, to prove his fitness for the tournament. The 33-year-old Clarke is not expected to take part in Saturday's tournament opener at the MCG against England.
At the Sydney Cricket Ground, England won the toss and batted against Pakistan. "Looks a lot dryer than the other day, hopefully we get a good chance to score more runs," said England captain Eoin Morgan.
New Zealand gave its World Cup opponents some pause for thought by scoring more than 330 against South Africa, although the pitch at Hagley Oval appears to favor batsmen.
McCullum put on 57 with Martin Guptill (26) in an opening partnership that gave New Zealand a sound start, then rushed to his half century from 40 balls. He added a further 70 for the second wicket with Williamson before he was bowled by Aaron Phangiso in the 19th over.
Captain A.B. de Villiers was passed fit to rejoin the South African lineup for its last warmup match ahead of its World Cup opener against Zimbabwe in Hamilton.
Karunaratne made 58 and Mendis 51 from 51 balls in Sri Lanka's innings of 279-8 at Bert Sutcliffe Oval.
Zimbabwe, which reduced New Zealand to 157-7 in a match abandoned because of rain on Monday, made another strong beginning with the ball. Kumar Sangakkara fell for 8 and Mahela Jaywardene for 30 as Sri Lanka's sound batting by the middle order restored the innings after an early collapse.
Left-arm spinner Sean Williams took 3-35 from 10 overs for Zimbabwe, which spread its 50 overs among nine bowlers.
