KEY POINTS:
Manchester United's Alex Ferguson calls it squeaky bum time, and it's a fair bet John Bracewell understands the sensation as he ponders when to bring back front-line batsman Ross Taylor.
A successful return from Taylor against Ireland at Providence Stadium on Tuesday would set him up nicely for the semifinal stampede at Grenada; an aggravation of the hamstring tear would almost certainly end his tournament.
To cloud things further, New Zealand should beat the Irish without needing the assistance of their 22-year-old first-drop, and Taylor himself has offered a distinctly modest assessment of his chances.
"It's getting better slowly," he said of the hammie. "I'd give myself a 70-30 chance [of playing]. It's been a bit frustrating of late but hopefully I can start sprinting and give it more of a test.
"It would be good to get a feel of things before those three games in Grenada. Just training and going to the gym can get a bit frustrating _ I want to get out there and have a hit in the middle."
Taylor's availability will determine the fate of two of his teammates, makeshift opener Peter Fulton, who has inherited Lou Vincent's position, and late replacement Hamish Marshall, who was rushed over for the start of the second round.
Fulton hasn't yet been able to get under way in his new role and Marshall scored a half-century against Bangladesh, but Fulton's strong late season batting form in the Chappell-Hadlee Series may still count in his favour.
There are also several decisions to be made about the bowling attack: whether to rest Shane Bond, to play Chris Martin against Ireland's raft of cack-handers, to bring back Mark Gillespie or to include form off-spinner Jeetan Patel.
Whatever happens there, Taylor believes New Zealand's familiarity with likely semifinalists Australia and Sri Lanka will serve the team well when they move to Grenada for their last three second-round fixtures.
New Zealand should beat the toiling Irish to move on to eight points, but then face three heavyweight showdowns against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia, needing at least one more win to be certain about their future.
"I think South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia are probably our biggest threats but I don't think they're doing anything different _ just playing good cricket," said Taylor.
"I don't think there's anything between that three, even though Australia beat South Africa by more than 100 runs.
"It's still pretty close and I think if they had to play again the margin would be a lot closer."
New Zealand have squared off against Australia seven times this summer for a three-win four-loss record, and shared their home series against Sri Lanka 2-2 after the decider was washed out at Hamilton.
Taylor said as hard as the side was trying, it was difficult not to look at the various permutations surrounding the semifinal race, which is still open to all the Super Eight sides with the exception of Bangladesh and Ireland.
The West Indies can scrape through to eight points if they win their last three games and England can also force a count-back if they manage to win three of their final four matches, two of which are against Australia and South Africa.
"We're trying not to take much notice of other teams and what they have to do but it's just natural to do that when you're in a tournament situation," said Taylor.
"You tend to look at how other teams are playing and what they've got coming up.
"We're trying our hardest not to get involved, and to just concentrate on our next game.
"You never know, it could rain on us and we might have to share the points on Monday [Tuesday morning, NZ time]. There's no guarantees."
