The Hindu : New Zealand has a job on its hands

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 13, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

New Zealand has a job on its hands

By Our Special Correspondent

Daniel Vettori ... back in the Kiwi scheme of things.

Port Elizabeth Feb. 12. New Zealand is yet to score its first win on South African soil. Skipper Stephen Fleming brought a team here seven years ago for the Nelson Mandela Trophy, played six matches, lost five of them and one did not produce a result.

Three years ago Fleming and New Zealand made a second trip to South Africa. The outcome was the same. They lost five matches, the sixth was not played.

Ten defeats from a dozen matches had made them the underdog and the 47-run loss to Sri Lanka in the Cup opener was in keeping with the trend. Scott Styris' saved a rout. That's the only consolation.

New Zealand must expect a combination of factors — the opposition and conditions — and luck to favour it.

It is in Group B from which it was predicted to advance to the Super Six stage, even after it had decided to gift four points to Kenya and keep a safe distance from Nairobi.

The scheduled match against Kenya is a good nine days away, but there might be compelling reasons for Fleming's team to rescind its earlier decision. New Zealand's next two matches are against the West Indies and South Africa (February 16) before its matches against Kenya, Bangladesh and Canada. But two possible victories against Bangladesh and Canada will not assure it a passage into the Super Six.

Fleming has confessed that he did not pick the right eleven against Sri Lanka. ``It's a folly not picking Vettori (Daniel). We will have to look at conditions, but Vettori will play. He definitely comes into contention. We have to reassess our tactics. We have to look at each team as having different identity. So we are going back to the drawing board. We must win the match in order to be in the Super Six.''

Ramnaresh Sarwan ... in fine form for the Windies.

The Kiwi skipper felt there was a lot to be played in the World Cup and his team had the ability to bounce back. "It's not the end of the campaign though the next two matches are going to be extremely tough. We have to be positive.''

Fleming was all praise for Brian Lara's grand century against South Africa. "I thought it was an excellent performance. He stood up and showed what a great player he is. It's a great way to start the tournament.''

The West Indies will now fancy its chances of making the Super Six. Having beaten South Africa, it crossed a major obstacle on the first day of the tournament. The highlight for the West Indies was, of course, Lara's superb century and attacking cricket from the lower order batsmen in Ricardo Powell and Ramnaresh Sarwan who powered the West Indies to 278.

Carl Hooper explained the idea of playing seven batsmen and faith in three frontline bowlers. "The system worked well in India and Bangladesh with three quicks and myself and Gayle as the spinners. So we will continue to use it unless a green pitch makes us look at the option of playing one more seamer (Jermaine Lawson or Nixon McLean).''

The teams (from):

West Indies: Carl Hooper (Capt.), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Pedro Collins, Nixon McLean, Jermaine Lawson and Corey Collymore.

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (Capt.), Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Scott Styris, Matthew Sinclair, Brendon McCullum, Lou Vincent, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tyuffey, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Andre Adams, Shane Bond, Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Darrell Hair (Australia); TV Umpire: S. Venkatraghavan; Fourth Umpire: Ian Howell: Match Referee: Mike Procter.

Hours of play (IST): 1-30 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and 5-45 p.m. onwards.

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