On a second day which generally reinforced the size of the gap which still remains between Full member countries and the Associates, Canada were unable to repeat their heroics of the previous day, and suffered a comprehensive nine-wicket defeat at the hands of hosts New Zealand.

That was also England's margin of victory against Hong Kong, while the USA recovered a little from a disastrous start against Australia which saw them reduced to 28 for seven in ten overs of mayhem but still went down by 108 runs. The only match which produced any semblance of a contest was the rain-affected match at Palmerston North, but even here Bangladesh were scarcely troubled in achieving a five-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea.

After winning the toss and electing to bat at Fitzherbert Park, Papua New Guinea had fought their way to 87 for five from 24 overs when rain intervened, and after a stoppage of an hour and a quarter they resumed with the match reduced by four overs a side. Hasan Raju had sliced through the islanders' top order, but Tony Ura led a fightback, and after the resumption he and Sese Bau batted with more urgency, adding 35 runs in 7.2 overs before Bau departed.

Ura, however, went on to make 68 from 87 deliveries, while skipper Jason Kila smacked a rapid 41 towards the close to see Papua New Guinea to a moderately respectable 191 for nine, a total which was adjusted down to 188 on a Duckworth/Lewis calculation. Hasan Raju finished with four for 22 for Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshis wasted no time when they replied, and their aggression cost them a series of early wickets. At 77 for four it might have seemed as if Papua New Guinea were in with a chance, but then Mahmudul Hasan and Shabbir Rahman took command, exactly doubling the score in thirteen and a half overs.

Mahmud then went for 38, but Shabbir – later named as Man of the Match – continued in tandem with Nur Hossain, reaching his half-century just before the end as Bangladesh reached their target without further loss and with more than 22 overs in hand.

In Queenstown, meanwhile, Australia were not quite able to make the most of a remarkable start with both bat and ball, but were never in any trouble against the USA.

Openers Nic Maddinson (32) and Tom Beaton took on the American new-ball attack, putting on 82 for the first wicket at better than a run a ball, and even after Beaton departed for a splendid 73, made off 76 deliveries with five fours and three sixes, they seemed likely to post a total in excess of 300.

But although the middle and lower order maintained a good run-rate they were unable to raise it in the final twenty overs as wickets continued to fall, and they were eventually all out for 262 three balls before the scheduled close. Jason Floros made 33 and Tim Armstrong 39, and there were two wickets each for Hammad Shahid, Asad Ghous, Saqib Saleem and Ryan Corns.

An unenviable record seemed on the cards for the USA as the Australian new-ball attack of Josh Hazlewood and Alister McDermott utterly destroyed their batting, first McDermott taking three wickets in the space of 18 deliveries and then Hazlewood chipping in with three wickets of his own to leave the Americans in danger of posting the lowest World Cup total ever.

But Azurdeen Mohammed stood firm, and once the opening bowlers finished their initial spells he and Asad Ghous began to rebuild what was left of their side's innings. Ghous was eventually trapped in front by leg-spinner Adam Zampa for 30 when the pair had added 68, but Mohammed fought on with the support of Hammad Shahid. They put on 58 for the ninth wicket before Mohammed was stumped by Tom Triffitt off Zampa's bowling; his 70 had come from 90 deliveries with five fours and a six.

Naseer Jamali edged the next ball to the Australian keeper, and the USA were all out for 154, Zampa taking three for 21. Hazlewood finished with three for 46 and McDermott four for 29. In what must have been a difficult call Beaton received the Man of the Match award.

Canada had pulled off a stirring victory over Zimbabwe, but they were never in the hunt against the hosts from the moment Craig Cachopa won the toss at Lincoln and elected to bowl. They had fought their way to 63 for six by the 18th over, but skipper Rustam Bhatti's 24 was the highest score of the innings, and they were all out for a disappointing 128 in the 30th over.

Seamers Doug Bracewell and Logan van Beek claimed three for 31 and three for 27 for New Zealand, Ben Wheeler collecting two in the early stages. Bracewell was later named as Man of the Match.

The New Zealanders then made short work of the Canadian total, racing to their nine-wicket in win in just 19.1 overs, Tom Latham the only man to fall after having made a run-a-ball 41. Harry Boam was more cautious at the other end, but Jimmy Neesham leathered the Canadian attack with 47 not out from only 20 deliveries, hitting six fours and two sixes in the process.

Matters turned out to be almost equally one-sided at the nearby Bert Sutcliffe Oval, although Hong Kong did somewhat better with the bat as they faced England. They started shakily, losing three wickets for 32, but Irfan Ahmed (32) and Nizakat Khan put on 67 for the fourth wicket, and then Nizakat and Mark Chapman added a further 56 for the fifth.

Nizakat was finally dismissed for a defiant 65, made from 69 balls with seven fours and two sixes, but David Payne (three for 24) came back to run through the lower order and Hong Kong were all out for 185.

This total never seemed likely to trouble an authoritative English top order, Chris Dent (33) and Joe Root getting the innings off to a fine start with a half-century stand, and Root and James Vince then knocking off the remaining runs in an unbroken second-wicket stand of 129.

Root was on 70 not out at the end and Man of the Match Vince was on 76, struck from only 61 deliveries with ten fours and a six as England completed with victory with only twenty overs to spare.