Re-writing the record books an acquired habit for Fleming's men

New Zealand can set themselves for phase two of their World Cup bid having nothing to fear.

While their entry into the Super Six was a last-minute affair, there seems to be a general consensus that their effort in beating South Africa and the West Indies was sufficient for them to warrant their place.

They now face Zimbabwe this Saturday, Australia on Tuesday and India on Friday.

New Zealand might have a poor overall success rate in One-Day Internationals of only 42.75%, but there seems to be something in the air in World Cup play where its winning percentage lifts to 56.25%.

And its winning percentage at neutral venues is even slightly better at 56.66%.

More particularly, in World Cup matches, New Zealand has a 3-0 win line over Zimbabwe, with one no result.

Against Australia, in the five games they have contested at World Cup level, the scoreline favours Australia 3-2.

India and New Zealand have met six times in World Cups with New Zealand holding the win advantage 4-2.

One feature of captain Stephen Fleming's New Zealand team has been its ability to knock over the record books.

Reputations don't necessarily matter to this side.

They were the team who won New Zealand's first international tournament, the ICC KnockOut in Kenya in 2000. They recorded New Zealand's first victory at Lord's and The Oval, in 1999. They were the first team in the world to win successive Tests in Zimbabwe. They achieved the highest fourth innings total to lose a match (outside of timeless Tests) with 451 against England at Jade Stadium last year. They became the first New Zealand team to win a Test series in the West Indies. They were the first New Zealand team to complete a 5-0 one-day series sweep, against the West Indies in 1999/00. They were the first New Zealand team to shut Australia out of their annual tri-series.

They like re-writing history.

Some of these features might seem insignificant when lined up against the deeds of other international sides, but the point remains, they have been firsts for New Zealand and are symptomatic of a growing confidence of this side.

Individually, there are also some significant milestones to be played for in the remaining games of World Cup 2003.

Fleming sits on 598 World Cup runs. Only Martin Crowe 880 and Glenn Turner 612 have scored more.

Chris Cairns is sitting on 475 runs.

Cairns and Chris Harris have now played 25 World Cup matches, the most by New Zealanders.

Harris has taken most wickets, 31, by a New Zealand bowler. Behind him are Richard Hadlee 22, Geoff Allott 20, Willie Watson 19, Gavin Larsen 18 and Cairns 16.

Of the players in South Africa, Jacob Oram and Nathan Astle taken 11 wickets, Shane Bond nine and Andre Adams eight.

Chances are that if New Zealand can maintain their reasonable success rate at the World Cup, some of the individual records will be extended with obvious benefits for the overall team performance.