Bond celebrates dismissing Sarker. (Getty Images)

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New Zealand kept alive their hopes of a Super Sixes place with a crushing seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Kimberley.

After restricting Bangladesh to 198 for seven from their 50 overs, the Black Caps cruised to 199 for three with 99 balls to spare to give a much-needed boost to their run-rate.

All-rounder Chris Cairns smashed 33 from just 21 balls to seal the victory which maintains the New Zealanders' chances of qualifying from group B.

Captain Stephen Fleming led the assault with a quickfire 32 before he was unlucky to be adjudged to have gloved a return catch to Khaled Mahmud, and after Andre Adams also fell to Mahmud for 18, Craig McMillan took over the chase.

The right-hander reached his 50 from just 65 balls and had moved on to 75 before attempting a highly unorthodox sweep and was bowled behind his legs by Mahmud.

That just brought Cairns to the crease and the all-rounder was in devastating form, hitting one six clean out of the ground.

Scott Styris also scored a rapid 37 from 36 balls as the minnows were put to the sword in no uncertain terms.

Fleming had made the most of being dropped at mid-wicket in just the fourth over to thrash 19 runs from five balls of one of Baisya Tapash's overs before falling to Mahmud.

Fleming's attempted sweep saw the ball loop up to present the bowler with a simple return catch, umpire Darrell Hair adjudging contact had been made with the batsman's glove although television replays were inconclusive.

Following Fleming's dismissal Adams briefly continued where the skipper had left off, taking 14 runs off one over before mis-timing an attempted pull to Mohammad Ashraful at mid-on.

Earlier opener Ashraful produced a gem of an innings at the De Beers Diamond Oval before New Zealand hauled themselves back into a commanding position thanks to three wickets apiece from paceman Shane Bond and all-rounder Jacob Oram.

At 105 for four and Ashraful in full flow the Black Caps' plans for a swift victory were in tatters.

The right-hander posted his best-ever one-day international score of 56, off 82 balls, and his country's first World Cup half-century.

But pace-bowling policeman Bond - who has rediscovered his form in this match - arrested the progress of the belligerent opener, who cracked a six and half a dozen fours.

And once he had departed with the score on 107 for six the Asians were put in a stranglehold by 10 overs of Daniel Vettori's tidy left-arm spin which went for just 19.

However, there were a flurry of late boundaries from Mohammad Rafique, who smashed two sixes and three fours in a run-a-ball 41, and captain Mahmud (35 not out) as the pair shared an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 70 - a record for Bangladesh.

Afterwards New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming revealed how his side's "aggressive" approach had paid dividends.

"Craig is warming to the opening role and he really did the job and formed the basis of the innings," said Fleming.

"Our approach was to be aggressive, we wanted to get them as quickly as possible."