Kiwi power

With only a few days left to the commencement of the cricketing showpiece, everyone is predicting who will be the fortunate 'fab four' to contest the semis.

To a man, the names of South Africa and Australia come rolling off the tongue but then quizzical looks are exchanged as individuals dig deep to complete the quartet.

The West Indies are mentioned frequently along with Pakistan but one other team consistently grabs the imagination, New Zealand. Why New Zealand? Why are they on most people’s lips?

In my mind the Kiwi’s are unquestionably a team to observe and my belief is that they will be in the final mix largely due to three reasons. One, they are a close-knit unit that play as a team. Two, they are not scared of trying the unexpected and have been known to catch their opposition off guard.

Three, their planning and strategy is precise and they are greatly assisted by the reality that they are lead by arguably the best captain on the one day international circuit. Fleming does not exercise mechanical premeditated plans.

You just have to cast your mind back to the impressive way they competed fiercely with Australia in Australia in both forms of the game last summer. They were belligerent, assertive and confident during that clash and certainly commanded respect.

One conviction they have going into a one-day contest is that their games will be won with their bowling and fielding performances as opposed to their batting display. Keep a trained eye on Shane Bond to set the trend.

Fleming is constantly alert to any gap that he can take as captain and seems to possess the uncanny knack of being ahead of the opposition batsmen. He has a useful number of bowling permutations to consider when in the field and can sense when his bowling resources are wearing a bit thin or if a particular batsman is about to ‘launch’.

If he gets that feeling a change is made, therefore minimizing the opportunity of the opposition gaining any momentum swing or mental ascendancy. On the batting side of things, save some individual brilliance from Astle or later on Cairns, they will be focusing on being consistent rather than brilliant. In South African conditions they will be methodical in the first 15 overs and will be planning to maintain the momentum in the middle overs without losing wickets.

The main ingredient to their batting strategy will simply be wickets in hand at the ‘death’ to enable a calculated onslaught that will hopefully be accompanied by a partnership.

Fleming is a positive skipper and his communication is lucid and sound. He, along with his management team, insist on a detailed organizational plan for the team that gives them every chance of getting things right.

There is nothing earth-shattering about the way the Kiwi’s play the one-day game but let me ask you this.

How many other teams display this kind of sense of purpose?