
|

With his searing pace Shane Bond will be New Zealand's trump card
© Getty Images
|
|
There's no time for West Indies to lick their wounds and mull over a
match in which they have been comprehensively outplayed by Australia,
the runaway favourites for the World Cup. In less than 24 hours they
will have to go through it all again - but this time against a side
whose last encounter with the Aussies resulted in a memorable 3-0
victory. Stephen Fleming's New Zealanders are next on the agenda for
West Indies, in a match that has suddenly assumed pivotal importance.
A second defeat in two days for West Indies will not condemn them to
an early exit. Not yet at any rate. But victory for the Kiwis will in
all probability send them hurtling towards one of the three remaining
semi-final slots, now that Australia have all but inked in their
attendance. Having already seen off England in their Group C
encounter, and with Bangladesh and Ireland still to come, the chance
to kick a fellow senior Test nation while they are down will do
wonders for their prospects. (New Zealand did, of course, slip up
against Bangladesh in the warm-ups, but they'll not be taking their
next meeting so lightly).
"Of course it's a disadvantage in playing one-day cricket on a
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," said West Indies captain, Brian
Lara, in the aftermath of Australia's 103-run victory. "That's really
tough. The only saving grace is that our bowlers didn't have to do
anything today, only run around a bit with a bat in their hands. It
was a possibility we knew about, with two games in three days and a
rain-day in between, but that's not going to be an excuse tomorrow. We
have our focus and the guys are looking forward to the game.
"New Zealand is a very good one-day outfit," added Lara. "We're not
going to take them any lighter than Australia. They are coming off the
back of not just the first round but their performances against
Australia in New Zealand, so they are very high in confidence and we
know it's going to be a tough job tomorrow. But we're confident we can
get our act together."
New Zealand get landed with the "dark horses" label so often it has
gone beyond parody. But the fact remains that they have gone about
their business with a stealthful professionalism ever since their
early exit from the CB Series. They have won six matches in a row
since February, in spite of an injury crisis that would have derailed
lesser sides.
Craig McMillan has been struggling with a toe injury, Ross Taylor's
hamstring strain is going to rule him out of tomorrow's match, Mark
Gillespie's shoulder is recovering from a peculiar case of paralysis,
while Daryl Tuffey's shoulder has failed to recover and instead has
caused him to be sent home.
And then, upon arrival in Antigua, came quite ought to have been the
final straw - when Shane Bond broke the wrist of his own opening
batsman, Lou Vincent, who has since been replaced in the squad by
Hamish Marshall. "Vincent will be a major factor," said Lara. "He was
outstanding in the field in the first round, and when they bat he bats
in the way that gives themselves an opportunity."
However Stephen Fleming, New Zealand's captain, managed to remain
indifferent to his side's plague of setbacks. "It's been a dramatic
week with Lou going and 'Rossco' working hard on getting back," he
admitted. "It has changed the balance of the side. But the core is
still there and the bonus has been we've had six days to adjust - it
hasn't been thrown on us the day before a game so we've been able to
prepare mentally for it."
In Vincent's absence, the opening berth passes to Peter Fulton, who is
hardly a man in the Matthew Hayden mould, but who nevertheless thumped
76 not out from just 65 balls in the victory over Australia at
Auckland last month. "Pete's form is outstanding," said Fleming. "To
leave him out of the first couple of games was incredibly difficult.
The positive for him
now is he gets a chance, and a consistent chance to bat in one spot
for a while."

|

The West Indies captain isn't enthused playing three days in a row though he has said that wouldn't be an excuse to perform below par against the tough New Zealanders
© Getty Images
|
|
There is, however, one key reason why New Zealand have no fear of the
coming encounter - and to spot that you need to look no further than
the cause of Vincent's injury. Bond's searing spell of 2 for 19 was
instrumental in the victory over England, and in the absence of Brett
Lee and Shoaib Akhtar, only Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga and Australia's
Shaun Tait can match Bond for pure speed. Malinga's astounding
performance in Guyana notwithstanding, Bond is the man who has the
World Cup experience to fall back on.
West Indies may not be best pleased to face a third consecutive day of
competition, but they do at least now know what to expect of an
Antigua wicket that Lara this afternoon claimed was a belter. That may
be overstating the case somewhat, but after the best part of a week
away from competition, New Zealand will be the ones feeling their way
in the early stages at a new venue.
"Now that we've played on it we realise how easy it is to bat on,"
said Lara. "Maybe New Zealand, coming from St Lucia, will take some
time to grow accustomed to it. But we'll just put our feet up for the
next 18 hours or so to ensure we get the necessary rest. One game or
one disappointment is not going to change anything. I've still got
confidence in the job that's required."
West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul,
3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Brian Lara (capt), 6 Dwayne
Bravo, 7 Dwayne Smith, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Daren Powell, 10 Corey
Collymore, 11 Jerome Taylor.
New Zealand (probable) 1 Peter Fulton, 2 Stephen Fleming
(capt), 3 Hamish Marshall, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Craig McMillan, 6 Jacob
Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 James Franklin, 10
Michael Mason, 11 Shane Bond.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo