KEY POINTS:
ST JOHN'S, Antigua - Considering the pain and anguish Shane Bond has inflicted on his teammates, it was hardly surprising to see a queue of New Zealand batsmen eagerly awaiting throwdowns from John Bracewell this week.
However, appearances were deceiving in the middle of the Stanford Cricket Club as the core of the middle-lower order were not deliberately avoiding the dangerous quick in the nets despite Bond having already bruised Craig McMillan's big toe before he ended Lou Vincent's tour by snapping his left wrist.
New Zealand cannot afford any more collateral damage -- particularly to the likes of McMillan, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum and James Franklin -- but there was another motivation for the quartet taking turns at blasting their coach's perfectly pitched lollipops into the sight-screen or beyond.
Six hitting is now a practiced art, an integral component of New Zealand training and the pre-match rituals of every other competing nation at the World Cup.
And for the Black Caps, all those hours pounding Bracewell into oblivion are paying off as they clearly boast one of the competition's most adept units to accelerate scoring in multiples of six.
Against Kenya and Canada, New Zealand's batsmen enjoyed what amounted to another open wicket practice in St Lucia last week, teeing off 23 times to maximum effect against low quality attacks.
It was a brazen brand of power hitting that could yet prove a determining factor in how far the Black Caps progress in the ninth edition of cricket's limited overs showpiece.
The focus on clearing the ropes is also another illustration of how radically the game has changed since the inaugural World Cup in 1975.
On the opening day of that competition, England scored 334 for four at the Oval off 60 overs. India meandered to 132 for three after Sunil Gavaskar (36 not out at the close) decided the target was so unattainable he was better off indulging in batting practice.
In 1975, a six was an event in itself. In the final, in which 565 runs were plundered, Clive Lloyd hit two sixes and Deryck Murray one for the West Indies.
The Australians replied with 274, to lose by 17 runs. Not a single Aussie cleared the boundary.
Thirty-two years on, a target of 334 off 50 overs, while not a formality, can be reached as New Zealand twice proved in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy last month. The six is now the rule rather than the exception.
Of the remaining eight teams in the competition New Zealand have three prime attacking weapons in McMillan, McCullum and Oram though in training it is No 9 Franklin who routinely hits the longest ball of all.
Leading into the Super Eights phase of the tournament which starts for New Zealand against the West Indies here tomorrow (1.30am Fri NZT) Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming admitted his battery of big hitters could prove pivotal.
"It's especially important if it's tough up front," he said.
"The team that is then able to regroup (after losing early wickets) and still do some damage later on could have the advantage."
Fleming conceded the focus on honing the skills of the batsmen in the firing line at the tail end of an innings may not have happened had the Black Caps top order been more reliable.
"We've targeted that as an area almost by accident by playing poorly at the start," he said.
"They've had to develop their games so it's now become one of our strengths.
"We've been working on that for a long time now. You need the confidence to take the field on and the rope on," Bracewell added.
"I think it is important but it won't be the winning of the World Cup.
"The accumulation between those (sixes) is going to be vital as is the ability of the bowlers to stop the opposition doing the same thing," he cautioned.
- NZPA
