After four World Cup semifinal defeats, New Zealand finally think they are worthy of a place in the final.
Stephen Fleming’s Black Caps face Sri Lanka at Sabina Park on Tuesday with the renewed confidence that comes with the knowledge that they beat Australia 3-0 in a one-day series near the end of February and carried that form through to the World Cup.
Fleming was in the New Zealand line-up crushed by nine wickets by Pakistan in the 1999 semifinal at Old Trafford and doesn’t fear a repeat of that.
”We got to the semi in 1999. But I’m not sure we really believed we should be there. The difference this year is we planned to be here,” he said on Monday.
”The attitude is very different. We know what to expect from Sri Lanka and feel worthy of being here. From a confidence point of view that’s quite a big shift. Tomorrow [Tuesday] is one of the biggest games this team will play. We know we are very close to something special, so the pressure is on.”
Fleming’s team were beaten by six wickets by Sri Lanka in a Super Eights game and then outplayed by 215 runs by Australia, their heaviest ever one-day defeat. Those games, he said, weren’t true examples of the Black Caps’ form.
”With the Australia match, we all realised we had our minds focused on the semifinal and we are a team that’s got to be incredibly focused on one game at a time rather than looking too far ahead,” he said.
”We paid the price for that and we won’t be doing the same here, even though the final is so close.”
The other semifinal sees defending champions Australia against South Africa in St Lucia on Wednesday.
Having also tied a one-day series 2-2 this year, New Zealand and Sri Lanka have already had a good look at each other ahead of Tuesday’s game, so both know what to expect.
Sri Lanka have an explosive top order and a pair of unorthodox bowlers good enough to unsettle any team in the world. New Zealand have a destructive pace attack and a captain who knows how to get the best out of his team.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya have excelled with the bat, each scoring more than 400 tournament runs. But opener Upul Tharanga has struggled and number three Kumar Sangakarra had been out of touch until hitting 69 against New Zealand.
Sangakkara’s brilliant wicketkeeping makes him undroppable. But Tharanga’s place is under consideration, with veteran Marvan Atapattu a possible replacement.
”Obviously New Zealand have a lot of depth in their batting. Everybody knows that,” Jayawardene said. ”But we have a different combination. We have genuine bowlers in our line-up and we rely on our top seven to score the runs. The top seven are there to bat the 50 overs. That’s how we go about our game.”
Star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was in good form in Sri Lanka’s eight-wicket win over Ireland in their final Super Eights game, and paceman Lasith Malinga should return after missing three games with strained left ankle ligaments.
New Zealand were without pace bowler Shane Bond and all-rounder Jacob Oram in Friday’s crushing loss to Australia in their final Super Eights game. Bond had a stomach complaint and Oram a bruised heel, but both should be fit to return in Jamaica.
Fleming will have to lift his team after New Zealand’s worst-ever loss.
He must be careful the team doesn’t do the same again.
”We’re a dangerous side and even more dangerous when we’ve got two games to win,” Fleming said. ”Australia’s playing great cricket. We hope we can get past Sri Lanka and create a better game for them in the final.”
Sri Lanka is making no such mistake.
”The semifinal is a very big hurdle for us to jump,” Jayawardene said. ”We’re looking forward to it. When we left Sri Lanka these are the targets we set. Getting to the semifinals and looking forward from that.
”We haven’t played in Jamaica so we’ll take a look at the wicket and see what the right combination is for that wicket.” — Sapa-AP