KEY POINTS:
Black Caps coach John Bracewell was handed a giant get-out-of-jail-free card when Daryl Tuffey was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup.
Tuffey will return home without passing go, while the deserving Chris Martin passes him in the other direction en route to the Caribbean.
The Northern Districts right-armer might have been the Park Lane of the New Zealand attack a few years ago but he has been operating at more of a Whitechapel level since his somewhat baffling selection for the World Cup.
With or without the shoulder injury that rendered him so ineffective against Canada, we were no closer to knowing whether Tuffey was any closer to being equipped to play international cricket than we were when he was selected for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
Back then, the answer was a resounding 'no' and the suspicion remained he was still a long way short in the Caribbean.
Tuffey was picked because of his ability to move the ball away from the right-handers but, in Martin, the selectors have not swapped like for like - suggesting the need for an outswing bowler at any cost was overstated.
"The recommendation from the selectors at home is that he is far and away the best replacement possible regardless of which way he swings it," Bracewell said.
"It's handy to have that extra pace, and we know he can swing it late but it does mean we've got a lot of bowlers going the same way and we have got to be careful about that."
They will take great care over Mark Gillespie, too.
Manager Lindsay Crocker yesterday said a decision would be made on Monday morning (NZT) as to any future involvement in the tournament. Gillespie lost strength in his right arm following a viral infection.
"We need to know if he's made significant progress for him to be able to be considered for selection for the early rounds of the Super Eights," Crocker said.
"We had D-Day at the end of the group stages. He showed some encouraging signs towards the end of that so we've given him another couple of days.
"But we can't really give him any more time than that or we will find ourselves under-staffed."
The suspicion is that Gillespie, one of the finds of the summer who was nevertheless looking a bit ragged by the end of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, will fail to make the cut and his replacement could be Andre Adams, though he remains under a suspension cloud.
Michael Mason, too, is walking around St Lucia with a large question mark over his head - though not through injury or suspension - after his ignominious eight overs cost 60 runs against Canada.
The sight of team shrink Gary Hermansson offering solace and a few words of encouragement on the boundary line did nothing to suggest Mason is capable of handling the high-pressure situations he will be faced with the deeper New Zealand goes in this tournament.
It could be a situation that convinces Bracewell and Fleming to squeeze Peter Fulton, Craig McMillan and Scott Styris into the eleven.
That would mean playing just three specialist bowlers (Shane Bond, Daniel Vettori and either James Franklin or Jeetan Patel), plus Jacob Oram and using the in-form Styris as a genuine fifth bowler, with McMillan as back-up.
Asked if he was concerned about his attack, Bracewell was typically defiant.
"Shane Bond has shown tremendous form. Daniel Vettori is picking up wickets in the middle. Jeetan [Patel] is becoming accurate late in the innings and is adept at bowling through the power plays," he said
"The only thing that can slow us down is injuries."
He did concede, however, that the amount of no balls being bowled was unacceptable. Against Canada, the attack handed up a further nine free deliveries.
"That's a concern. It's something that Dayle Hadlee is specifically working on."
There are few concerns at the other end of the order, though Ross Taylor is likely to miss the opening Super Eights match against the West Indies on Friday morning as he works to repair his hamstring strain.
"Ross Taylor will be out for another week or so," Crocker said. "He's starting to get back into some light work in the pool but we don't want to push him. We've got depth in the batting area anyway."
That they have. With Lou Vincent rediscovering his touch against Canada, all the top and middle order have spent valuable time at the crease.
