Cricket: Kiwi captain confident before Aussie match

New Zealand's cruise through the under-19 World Cup cricket tournament ends in Rangiora tomorrow when they come up against a wounded Australian team in the quarter-finals.

With three comfortable wins to their credit in pool play, including seven-wicket defeats of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, the New Zealanders are expecting a much sterner test in the knockout match.

South Africa ground out a two-wicket win over Australia in their last pool match two days ago, reaching an imposing 276 target with just two balls to spare.

New Zealand captain Craig Cachopa is confident his team can step up a level against the highly rated Australian team, who include such familiar names as captain Mitchell Marsh (son of Geoff), Alister McDermott (son of Craig) and Nick Buchanan, whose father is former Australian coach John Buchanan.

"The Aussies are very strong, but we've got nothing to fear. We have to be confident - we respect them as opposition, but never fear them," Cachopa said.

"They play a similar brand of cricket to what we do, and we'll expect them to adapt to the conditions, which will be similar to theirs with bouncy pitches."

He said the Australian batsmen had shown out well in pool play, with plenty of depth expected to test the New Zealand bowlers. However, New Zealand's own batting line-up had also performed strongly, particularly openers Harry Boam, who hit 85 against Sri Lanka, and wicketkeeper Tom Latham.

Cachopa said a key strength for the side was its all-round talent. He conceded that the pool play wins had not been entirely smooth running.

"I wouldn't say we haven't been under pressure at various times - the last 10 overs against Sri Lanka for example - but when we have, we've responded quite well to it."

At the previous world under-19 tournament in Malaysia two years ago, New Zealand, with test paceman Tim Southee starring, finished third while India beat South Africa in the final.

The quarter-finals begin today when England meet the West Indies at Rangiora while Pakistan and archrivals India battle in Christchurch at Bert Sutcliffe Oval. Tomorrow, New Zealand play Australia and South Africa meet Sri Lanka in Christchurch.

- NZPA