New Zealand should be confident

The scheduling of matches in the Super Eights stage of this World Cup is becoming something of a joke with Bangladesh, hammered by Australia on Saturday, back in action on Monday against New Zealand, reducing their chances of an upset win.

Had this been a one-off game, New zealand might have had plenty to fear, with Bangladesh having proved of late that they are capable of the odd surprise.

But with less than 48 hours having passed since they were mauled by Australia, their chances of causing an upset are significantly reduced. Bet365 make New Zealand 1/14 (1.07) while Bangladesh are 7/1 (8.00).

Even if they had have had plenty of rest, it would have been tough for New Zealand have been pretty impressive so far in the competition, coping well with the recent loss of Lou Vincent.

Their bowling, led by Shane Bond, has been good, while their batting has a nice blend of experience and youth, making them a good bet to reach the last four at the expense of one of the more fancied sides.

Captain Stephen Fleming is the 5/2 (3.50) favourite to top-score for the Black Caps, just ahead of Ross Taylor, a 7/2 chance.

Scott Styris and Peter Fulton are both 4/1, Hamish Marshall is 5/1 and the big hitters are next, with Craig McMillan 13/2 and Jacob Oram 8/1.

For Bangladesh, Aftab Ahmed and Shahriar Nafees share favouritism at 4/1, Tamim Iqbal is 5/1 and Habibul Bashar, Saqibul Hasan, Javed Omar and Mohammad Ashraful are all 6/1.

New Zealand are 1/3 to hit the better score after 10 overs and that looks a pretty safe bet.