New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming after losing to Australia in the one day international cricket match for the ICC Champions Trophy in Mohali, India, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming concedes his top order batsmen were "outskilled" in its Champions Trophy semifinals loss to Australia, saying his team must show more cohesion in if it is to progress further in international cricket.

World champion Australia defeated the Black Caps by 34 runs in Wednesday’s semifinal to qualify for its first ever limited-overs Champions Trophy final.

The New Zealand top order struggled to find runs against the penetrative bowling of experienced paceman Glenn McGrath (3-22) and staggered to 35-6 before Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram featured in a century partnership that narrowed the losing margin.

"We were outskilled at the top of the order and they knocked us over," Fleming said after the match. "Performances like that just don’t help.

New Zealand stunned South Africa in its opening group game before losing to Sri Lanka, but the Kiwis recovered with a 51-run win against Pakistan in the last group game to earn a place in the semifinals.

"We were just a little bit timid towards the final stages (of the tournament), we wanted to perform positively, but we still have to make sure that performances are there," Fleming said.

Fleming, who has led New Zealand in a world record 195 one-day internationals, said his team lacked consistency in its batting after losing its top-order in the first 15 overs Wednesday.

"What we need is more consistent batting performance across the board," said Fleming.

"This is what Australia did so well because they have like a cyclic approach with their batters, if one person is out of form they can carry along by the rest," he said. "Unfortunately for us it tends to work the other way where one person is in form and the rest are struggling, so we got to improve our bad days and start working more collectively."

Fast bowler Kyle Mills, who finished the tournament with impressive figures of 10-118 from four matches, reduced Australia to 4-2 in the third over, before the world champions fought back through half centuries from Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds to post a challenging total of 240-9 off its 50 overs.

"We didn’t have the penetration that we would have liked," Fleming said of New Zealand’s bowling.

"We would have liked to continue taking the wickets but we weren’t able to do that and that gave them the opportunity to score," he said. "We lacked a little bit of intensity after 10 overs. We hung in there nicely but we could have used the conditions better." (AP)

Pakistan fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been banned from all international and domestic cricket for failing a drugs test.

Shoaib, 31, will serve a two-year ban and Asif, 23, will be unable to play for 12 months after testing positive for nandrolone, a banned steroid.

The pair waived their right to have tests on their B samples carried out.

And the punishments were handed out by a three-man tribunal appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

"We gave a full chance to both the pacemen to fight their cases and after a thorough inquiry we feel they failed to prove their innocence," said lawyer Shahid Hamid, the chairman of the panel.

"The process of doping was investigated carefully. We made sure the tests were conducted properly, samples reached the laboratory in Malaysia safely and there was no error in testing in the laboratory.

"Both the players were satisfied and accepted the tests and gave their point of view but after a thorough inquiry and bound by the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) we reached the decision."

The inquiry was launched after Shoaib and Asif were sent home from the ICC Champions Trophy in India, although the tests had been carried out three weeks before the tournament began.

It is the most high-profile drugs case in cricket since Australia’s Shane Warne banned for a year in 2003 for testing positive for two diuretics. - BBC

South Africa, after winning the toss and opting to bat, were 103 for 3 in the 26th over, in the seco.nd semi final of the ICC Champions Trophy tournament.

Skipper Graeme Smith was the first to go, when on 19. Kallis followed after he had made 26, while Bosman, who opened with Smith fell at 39.

Jerome Taylor, Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Bravo were the wicket takers for the West Indies.