KEY POINTS:
Peter Fulton allowed himself a deep sigh of relief yesterday after rediscovering his form at the top of the order and effectively securing his position in the New Zealand team for the three big challenges against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia.
Cast in the role of a makeshift opener after Lou Vincent's hand injury at St Lucia, Fulton had back-to-back failures against the West Indies and Bangladesh before scoring a critical 83 against Ireland yesterday.
Fulton's 110-ball knock held the New Zealand innings together at a time when it seemed things were about to fall apart; earning him not only the man-of-the-match award, but the gratitude of a top-order batting combination that failed to offer him much support.
His innings included nine fours, one less than all his teammates hit between them, and helped to prop up the innings right until the 39th over, at which stage he aimed a sweep at off-spinner Kevin McCallan and was adjudged leg before.
"It was obviously a pretty good feeling," he said afterwards. "I was wanting to get a good score - I wanted to make a real contribution. For the last two games I felt I haven't.
"It was good to play an important role. With one score under my belt hopefully it will do my batting a lot of good."
Having played most of his recent cricket for New Zealand at No 3 and No 4, Fulton admitted that the adjustment to opener was a challenge, both in terms of the conditions in which he found himself batting, and the approach to his new role.
"It's been a little bit tricky mainly because in the three or four innings prior to that I've been batting in the middle order, coming in after 25-30 overs.
"That's pretty much as different as it gets. The new ball is always going to swing over here for the first three or four overs and there might be a little bit in the wicket - so it's just a matter of trying to get through that."
With Vincent one of the few opening options available to the New Zealand selectors, the success of Fulton at the top of the order could give them food for thought not only in terms of the remainder of the World Cup, but also as a permanent fixture.
The tall right-hander said he was happy to try his best in whatever position the selectors needed him to bat.
"I'm not too sure [about the future] I'll be in a better position to answer that at the end of the World Cup.
"But I've batted everywhere from one to seven for New Zealand so if I have to move around and slot into the team somewhere different, I'm happy to do that."
Teammate Jacob Oram said last night he wasn't surprised that Fulton had hit his straps against Ireland, given the form he'd recently shown both in the middle and at practice.
"It doesn't mean much when it comes to game day but he's hitting the ball so damn well and putting in a lot of time.
"He did well for us in the Chappell-Hadlees and had a reasonable knock in St Lucia [45 v Canada]. We've been confident he'd turn a corner and thankfully he did it just before we hit these three massive games and the real business end of the tournament.
"Hopefully he continues on because with the departure of Louie [Lou Vincent] and whatever's going on with Rosco [Ross Taylor's hamstring], it's very timely for us."
