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Stephen Fleming believes New Zealand have the players and the form to reach the World Cup final for the first time.

Encouraged by a string of 300-plus scores and the improving form of his bowlers, Fleming said New Zealand had a good chance of reaching the semifinals and were desperate to make it to the decider.

With four points in the bank and another four likely after their next two matches — unless they are upset by either Bangladesh or Ireland — it seems only a dramatic form slump could deny New Zealand a semifinal berth.

Fleming’s team ranks alongside Australia as the only undefeated countries at the tournament but he is not counting his chickens yet.

“Eight (points) might be enough, but ideally we’d like at least ten,” Fleming told the Weekend Herald. “It could be a bit of a logjam. Part of the reason we put the foot down against the West Indies was the issue of run-rates, and how much they’ll play in the eventual standings. Eight points with a good run-rate might be enough but there’s still a lot to pan out yet,” he added.

Fleming said Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka were the biggest threats but New Zealand had the potential to outplay all of them on their day. He was confident his side’s preparation for the World Cup had left them in good stead, in spite of their injury concerns.

“Australia’s still the team to beat, certainly,” he said. “They’re playing some good cricket but so are other teams. It’s hard to know how it’s going to pan out — it’s going to be tight. We’ve never been as well prepared as this. We’ve looked at pretty much every scenario and some of them twice. We’ve paid attention to succession-planning and have copped a bit of stick for it — but it was with a view to being as prepared as possible,” he explained.

“We’ve had a tough week losing Lou Vincent and Ross Taylor, but we’re able to fall back on experienced players and that’s had a settling effect on the team. We still got through the week okay whereas in the past it might have impacted negatively on the side,” he expressed.

Fleming said it was important to take nothing for granted, however, and New Zealand’s clashes with Bangladesh on Monday and Ireland a week later were potential stumbling-blocks if the players did not focus.

“We’ve got a couple of tricky encounters coming up,” he said. “Bangladesh tripped us up in the warm-up match and Ireland have tested Pakistan. But if we continue the way we’re playing, we’ll not be far away. That’s exciting. Each game we tick off brings us one closer to the semis — but the final is really what we’re after,” he added.
Source:The News