oram in confident mood
Oram - bullish ahead of Tuesday's semi-final.
New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram remains confident the Blackcaps World Cup Super 8 record against Australia will not dent the team's confidence ahead of Tuesday's semi-final meeting with Sri Lanka.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who leads his side against South Africa on Wednesday, insisted the 215-run reverse in Grenada on Friday would give the Blackcaps food for thought for the remainder of the tournament in the Caribbean.
However, Oram - who sat out the contest alongside Shane Bond - insisted the loss had been consigned to history.
"It hasn't dented our confidence as much as some people would think," he said.
"We know Wednesday will be so much more important and that's purely where our focus is now; we've almost forgotten about it.
"We weren't happy with the loss and we definitely wanted to win - but if we get up against Sri Lanka and make the final it's a whole new ball game."
The left-hander is confident he will take his place in the team after sitting out Friday's defeat due to a long-standing heel injury.
"It'll be fine, or at least that's the plan anyway. It was purely a precautionary exercise," he added.
"If it had been the semi-final I would have pushed it, but Sri Lanka's the bigger fixture and it's important that I'm right for that."


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