Mark Waugh took control and, by the time he was out, caught in the deep for 110 off 102 balls, Australia were within one deep breath of victory. His twin brother Steve saw the side home with a powerful half-century, and two overs to spare.(New Zealand won toss)NEW ZEALANDC M Spearman c Healy b Reiffel 13N Astle c Healy b Fleming 1*L K Germon c Fleming b McGrath 89S P Fleming c S R Waugh b McGrath 8C Z Harris c Reiffel b Warne 130R G Twose b Bevan 4C L Cairns c Reiffel b M E Waugh 4A C Parore lbw b Warne 11S A Thomson run out 11D N Patel not out 3Extras (lb6, w3, nb3) 12Total (for 9, 50 overs) 286Fall: 1-15, 2-16, 3-44, 4-212, 5-227, 6-240, 7-259, 8-282, 9-286.Did not bat: D J Nash.Bowling: Reiffel 4-0-38-1; Fleming 5-1-20-1; McGrath 9-2-50-2; M E Waugh 8-0-43-1; Warne 10-0-52-2; Bevan 10-2-52-1; S R Waugh 4-0-25-0.AUSTRALIA*M A Taylor c Germon b Patel 10M E Waugh c Parore b Nash 110R T Ponting c Sub b Thomson 31S K Warne lbw b Astle 24S R Waugh not out 59S G Law not out 42Extras (b1, lb6, w3, nb3) 13Total (for 4, 47.5 overs) 289Fall: 1-19, 2-84, 3-127, 4-213.Did not bat: M G Bevan, I A Healy, P R Reiffel, D W Fleming, G D McGrath.Bowling: Nash 9-1-44-1; Patel 8-0-45-1; Cairns 6.5-0-51-0; Harris 10- 1-41-0; Thomson 8-0-57-1; Astle 3-0-21-1; Twose 3-0-23-0.Lara leads the way, page 27World Cup updateQUARTER-FINALS (yesterday): West Indies (264 for 8) bt South Africa (245) by 19 runs; Australia (289 for 4) bt New Zealand (286 for 9) by six wickets.SEMI-FINALS: Tomorrow: India v Sri Lanka (at Eden Gardens, Calcutta). He hoisted Thomson for two successive sixes, was dropped by Dipak Patel, middled a couple more and was out for 24, having put on 45 in four overs. Mark Waugh, meanwhile, moved with not the least fuss to his fifty - he looked almost bored.Shane Warne had not bowled with his usual fizz (10 overs for 52) but he made up for it with his batting. Nash opened up with a maiden, and the first 10 overs produced just 35 runs. And when Ponting was out in the 20th over for 24, Australia pressed the panic button by sending in Shane Warne to slog. Harris finally succumbed to fatigue and cramp for 130, and it should have been a match-winning performance.

But the tail did not wag, and New Zealand finished with a target (287) that was imposing but not impossible - particularly not with Mark Waugh around.Australia began nervously. Craig Spearman took 12 off the first over, but then he and Nathan Astle both took big swipes at away swingers, and New Zealand were 16 for 2.Most sides would have tried to dig in after these setbacks, but New Zealand kept their feet down. Lee Germon and Chris Harris, promoted up the order to maintain the scoring rate, struck out with something like glee. The hundred came up in the 16th over, and Australia started to sweat.There were misfields, overthrows, a few no balls and, when Steve Waugh started bad-mouthing Germon, it was clear that the fielding side was feeling the strain.The crowd started calculating when the 300 would come up, but New Zealand foundered. It is not an accident: his what's-the-hurry demeanour conceals a crushing variety of strokes Batting has rarely been made to look easier. Apart from anything else, he showed once again that the ante has been upped in this World Cup: on these pitches, and given today's ultra-positive batting methods, no total short of 300 is safe.After winning the toss, New Zealand obviously decided to throw the bat early on, and they nearly threw in the towel while they were about it.

By the time he was out, the team's travel agent was already booking hotel rooms in Chandigarh for the semi-final.He picked up his third century in five innings (110 in 102 balls) to become by some way the heaviest run-scorer of the tournament (472 in five knocks), as well as the first man ever to harvest three tons in one tournament. As well as Chris Murphy, 20, a 6ft 8in and 19st 4lb student who plays for West Hartlepool, the Wasps centre Nick Greenstock will have his first chance at this level as England go for their fifth straight win. At the same time, the clubs are also interested in a second tier of European rugby. "At the end of the day," Hallett sighed, "Solomon's judgement is going to be involved."The latest in the latter-day line of gargantuan English locks will make his debut for England A against the Irish at Richmond on Friday.

A 12-team league would sit more symmetrically with the present 12-team Welsh First Division in establishing a full- blown 24-strong Anglo-Welsh competition for next season.This is the latest bone of contention between the clubs and their governing body as both attempt to come to terms with the new professionalism. The union is only too aware, not least because the clubs have made very sure they are, that a failure to come to financial agreement could lead to a breakaway.The 12-team proposition is expected to be put by Peter Wheeler, the chief executive of Leicester, to Tony Hallett, the RFU secretary, at an imminent meeting. The optimistic Hallett suggested last night that he wanted the debate between the union and clubs to be satisfactorily concluded by the end of this month.Would that it were so easy. The top four finishers in the Courage league have already been earmarked by the RFU for entry into next season's expanded European Cup, with the remaining six members of the First Division to participate in an inaugural Anglo-Welsh competition on top of the Courage league.The RFU is in a bind because its sponsorship contract with Courage has another season to run whereas the Welsh 's with Heineken terminates at the end of this season. This makes a cross-border structure such as that favoured by the English clubs a contractual impossibility for the RFU without some sort of renegotiation with Courage.The union is also concerned at the effect of such a sharp expansion in competitive club activity on its international programme. Hallett's alternative option is that relegation proceeds but that the two who go down are added to the four not qualified for Europe in the Anglo-Welsh competition. Rugby Union STEVE BALE England's leading clubs have changed their minds and are now considering a 12 rather than 10-team First Division next season which would avoid the inconvenience of relegation for this season, preserving the present top flight with the addition of the first two finishers in the Second Division.These will include Northampton, who are already members of the First Division clubs' limited company as well as English Professional Clubs Ltd, the body through which the clubs are acting as an alternative power bloc to the Rugby Football Union.