I was more than impressed with New Zealand's easy win over the West Indies yesterday so soon after the loss of Lou Vincent. Lara undoubtedly made it difficult for his team and himself by dropping Jerome Taylor in favour of Simmons, but that takes nothing away from the Kiwis' great win. They too had several key players unavailable; apart from Vincent, the talented No:3 batsman Taylor and pace bolwer Gillespie were injured. The Kiwis have Bangladesh and Ireland next, giving them almost 2 weeks before the next big match against Sri Lanka. That should be time enough for Taylor to come in place of Hamish Marshall and Gillespie for the hitherto unimpressive Franklin. The Kiwis could go far in this tournament.

To be honest, I think the verdict is still out on the Kiwi's. So far they've only had to deal with a off-colour West Indies and a sloppy English side, they've yet to face the big three of the tournament.

How they go against Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the forthcoming matches will be the true acid test for thier world cup winning prospects.

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- VVVRulz..

Well, they handled Australia pretty well back home recently. The Kiwi bowling looks strong with young Mason making an impressive partner to Shane Bond; the return of Gillespie in place of the off-colour Franklin will further buttress the pace attack, while Vettori is always reliable in the spin department. There is plenty of good choice to fill-in for the fifth bowling option with both Oram & Styris bowling well - so well in fact, thet they might take over some of the regulars' overs.

New Zealand's batting might not look as impressive on paper compared with the record breakers of Australia and South Africa, but they have been doing rather well in this World Cup thus far. The loss of Vincent was a blow no doubt, but hopefully, Fulton will do better as an opening partner to Fleming. Taylor is scheduled to return at No:3 and the middle order of Styris, McMillan, Oram and McCullum have looked good in chasing big totals recently. Vettori, Gillespie and even Bond are no mugs with the bat and so the Kiwis are a better team than many give them credit for. Above all of course, they are led by a tactical and imaginative captain.

I agree that the Black Caps have not been tested yet in this tournament so far. But with the number of all rounders in their playing eleven, in my opinion they will always be extremely competitive against any team. In addition their batting depth gives them an edge over other teams.

I predict an Australia v New Zealand final on 28 April.

It is a remarkable thing for NZ to be discussed as a potential world cup winner; After all it is a country where rugby takes precedence over all other sports!

Assuming the black caps win their matches against Bangladesh and Ireland then they should only need to win one of their last three games to make the semis.

They've proven over the summer they can defeat both Sri Lanka and Australia and South Africa dont look to have the bowlers to hold back the likes of Styris McMillan Oram etc when they get into full swing.

Without getting my hopes up (kiwi sportsfan are a pessimistic bunch gven the amount of times our teams and individuals have bombed out at the last hurdle) I'd say the kiwis are as much a chance of winning as Sri Lanka or SA. Of course the aussies are still slight favourites and WI and England are in with no show of winning.

One impressive aspect of Styris, McMillan and even McCullum in recent times is how well they have been placing balls through the fielders for ones and twos to keep the score moving. This approach could be very important on the slow, low Caribbean pitches where the medium-pacers and spinners have slowed down the scoring during the middle of the opposition's innings once the ball has lost its shine.

NZ may not possess some of the `big name' players that other countries are lucky to have but they possess some essential characteristics which typify a great team. They are lead by a great captain, have one of the deadliest fast bowlers in the world, the best left-hand spinner in the world but most importantly they have the greatest number of effective all-rounders in their side which gives them depth and versatility with both bat and ball. Possibly their greatest asset is their mental strength as showed recently when chasing targets in excess of 300 against the best side in the world.