fleming - aussies not invincible
Fleming - one eye on last four.
By David Clough, PA Sport, St George's
Stephen Fleming still believes Australia are 'beatable' despite New Zealand's 215-run humbling at the hands of the world champions.
The Kiwis suffered the widest-margin defeat in their one-day history on Friday and must now pick themselves up for Tuesday's World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka in Jamaica.
But pacified by the fact the Super Eight disaster in Grenada came in a match with no direct bearing on the rest of the tournament, Fleming claims it will not have dented his team's confidence.
"We've certainly had our bad day - it's how we bounce back now against Sri Lanka," said Fleming, who hopes to have notable Queen's Park absentees Shane Bond and Jacob Oram back for the last-four meeting.
"I look forward to that with a lot of confidence; this has not dented our confidence that much."
Fleming reasons that the fact there was little at stake apart from momentum and antipodean pride against Australia is mitigation for such a poor performance.
"I can confidently say we talked the talk and really did want to win," he said.
"But one eye has been on the semi-final - and with nothing on this game, if it took a little bit of edge off us we were always going to be in trouble. I guess that is what happened.
"We've got to be above our games to beat Australia, we know that. But we were certainly well below that this time.
"I'll put some of it down to looking forward to the game coming up and the opportunity to get through to a final."
As for Australia, Fleming has no doubt they have the ability to win the World Cup for a third successive time - but he advises one-off limited-overs cricket is not a medium for racing certainties.
"I think they are the most talented side, but that does not necessarily win you World Cups," he added.
"What we will try to do if we get through this game against Sri Lanka - and that is by no means an easy task - is to try to use the occasion.
"We've beaten Australia recently. If there's a bit of bounce and seam movement - and it goes our way - pressure can be created.
"The pressure of expectation can also be very high. That gives us an advantage - because we're only classed as 'dangerous' at this point."
Fleming does not see it as a formality either that Australia will be in the final in Barbados next weekend.
Asked if he thinks the champions' semi-final opponents South Africa could cause an upset in St Lucia on Wednesday, he said: "I do - and that's because it's a one-off game.
"It could be a toss, Australia bad day or Herschelle Gibbs playing extremely well. There are so many factors in one-off games that would make any team nervous.
"It's not a foregone conclusion.
"Australia are playing well, and you expect them to go in with a lot of confidence. But that can easily be whittled away in 10 overs of good cricket from another team or 10 overs of bad cricket from the Australians."
Before then, New Zealand face a significant task against Sri Lanka - a team for whom Fleming has respect, despite weaknesses he has also identified.
"I think they're the most balanced bowling attack here. They are unorthodox and present massive challenges to our batters," he said.
"But the flip side of that is that their batting is probably not as strong as other teams around.
"We feel if we can get through their top order we can keep it to a score or defend a score that is not as high as what you need against Australia."
New Zealand themselves have the potential to beat anyone on their day, the captain believes.
"We are a dangerous side. We can play like we did against Australia, or we can play a semi-final and chase down 350," he said.
"We are even more dangerous now that we have two games to win.
"Australia are playing great cricket. I guess they are playing such good cricket you wonder if they are going to have a bad day some time.
"We hope we can get past Sri Lanka and then create a bad day for them in the final."



Post to the Mailbox!
Be the first to post a comment on this story