BLOEMFONTEIN, 8 March 2003 — New Zealand have their eyes fixed on the ultimate prize at the World Cup despite their unfavorable situation going into the Super Sixes.
The Black Caps will take just four points into the second round, half a point more than bottom team Zimbabwe whom they meet today.
New Zealand must win at least two of their three Super Six matches to stay in contention for the semi-finals, but captain Stephen Fleming remains as upbeat as ever about his team’s chances of progressing further in the tournament. “Our chances are as realistic as we make them,” Fleming told reporters on Friday. “We’re hanging on by grim death at this point but you often need those situations to spur you on.
“With the points that we’ve carried through, we want to get into the mix. We need a burning desire to beat each team we play from now on. We want to test ourselves against the best.”
New Zealand owe their lowly position to their refusal to play Kenya in Nairobi on safety grounds, which gifted Kenya four points the Africans have taken into the second round.
Kenya’s surprise qualification owed much to that bonus, as well as to their shock win over Sri Lanka.
Unsurprisingly, Fleming thought the tournament format should be revisited. “Too much can happen in the first stage to warrant taking points through, as we’ve seen,” Fleming said. “The concept had the best intention of crediting the sides who play well throughout the World Cup, but certain stages warrant certain stresses and strains.”
New Zealand have named an unchanged side for today’s match and Fleming said the only selection debate concerned whether to tinker with the opening bowling combination. “We have a very good opening bowler in Daryl Tuffey sitting in the wings, and we want to make sure the guys doing the job appreciate we have good players waiting,” Fleming said.
All rounder Chris Harris could be a key factor for the Kiwis, particularly on Bloemfontein’s perennially benign pitches. “He showed his value as a batsman in our last game (scoring 38 not out in a five wicket win over Canada), and I think his bowling could also play a part on this wicket,” Fleming said.
“He hasn’t made some of the sides, and that will increase his level of performance. We saw it in the last game, his ball striking and ability with the ball was back to what we know,” he added.
Zimbabwe have won their last two limited series against New Zealand, a trend Fleming thought ripe for reversal. Zimbabwe, who need to win all three of their second round matches to survive, were also confident.
“We’ve backed ourselves against them and played good cricket,” captain Heath Streak told reporters. “I think we’re pretty well matched sides. We’ve posted the highest score that has been made against Australia in this tournament (246 for nine), so I think we can rely on our batting.
