Interesting test for New Zealand

If New Zealand need any reminder after their last match, against Sri Lanka, that the less-favoured teams are not going to lie down, then the Netherlands can be expected to provide it on the eighth day of the CricInfo Women's World Cup at Hagley Oval tomorrow.

The Netherlands go into this match with three losses from three matches. But coaches from teams that have played them have been impressed with their commitment and team spirit, probably none more so than Rodney Willemberg. The South African coach yesterday had the mortification of watching his team crumble from 51 for two to 67 for five before limping to the modest target of 93 for six in the face of an unrelenting effort by the Netherlands field.

And the performance of opening bat Maartje Koster, hampered by a leg injury in the South Africa match, demonstrated just how effective the Dutch players can be when only half fit.

New Zealand, with two wins since their first-day loss to their transtasman rivals, go into the match lying third behind the unbeaten Australia and India. It is a measure of New Zealand's all-round performance that six of the team have already scored points for the CricInfo Player of the Tournament competition. The points are distributed three, two and one for each match and at the end of the sixth day only Australia from the rest of the teams had also produced six players with points.

Mithali Raj from India and Daleen Terblanche (South Africa) with five points apiece were leading at the end of the sixth day with no players from the Ireland and Sri Lanka game today in a position to change the top of the leaderboard.

Considerable interest is likely in how the Hagley No 2 pitch plays tomorrow. From the evidence of the first two matches for which it was used, groundstaff would like to get a heavy roller onto it if one was available. The occasional bounce during the first day of use on Sunday was even more noticeable by its absence during the Netherlands' last match there yesterday. That great leveller, the low ball, became an even more predominate factor and made scoring at times difficult and put wickets at risk.

New Zealand should win this one easily, particularly if they do not show the lapses in concentration that bedevilled the South Africans against the same team. For the Netherlands, it is further preparation for the matches that really matter.

The last two teams in the tournament go into a playoff with IWCC nations that did not make it to this tournament to fill the seventh and eighth places at the next World Cup. That gives the Netherlands, who have been in the previous three Women's World Cups, a mission for this tournament - to avoid the cut. No wonder that more favoured teams have come away knowing that they have been in a match.