KEY POINTS:
Stephen Fleming was not impressed with his top order batsmen yesterday after New Zealand were forced to negotiate several anxious moments before over-running Ireland in their Super Eights contest.
Handed the most favourable conditions after Fleming won the toss and elected to bat first, New Zealand were bogged down on the sluggish Providence Stadium pitch, pushing through to 263 only after a late flurry from the tail.
The total proved too much for Ireland, who threatened briefly at 110 for three before losing their last seven wickets for just 24 runs, four of them to left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori and a brace to his off-spinning partner Jeetan Patel.
Brothers Kevin and Niall O'Brien defied the New Zealanders for the best part of 17 overs, adding 75 for the fourth wicket before a mid-pitch mix-up allowed a swooping Hamish Marshall to begin the decline.
The 129-run win was New Zealand's ninth in succession, their sixth in a row at the World Cup. At second place with eight points, they need just one more win to be certain of their semifinal prospects.
While man-of-the-match Peter Fulton nailed down his opening position with a cautious 83, Fleming was irritated that the balance of the top order misread the conditions and allowed the Irish into the game.
New Zealand stuttered to 83 for three in the 17th over and 189 for seven in the 43rd, at which stage it seemed Ireland might be able to dismiss their opponents for less than 200 and push for another big upset.
It was only Brendon McCullum with 47 off 37 balls and James Franklin, unbeaten on 34 off 22, who managed to find the turbo-chargers in the nick of time, blasting 71 runs off seven overs.
Fleming, however, was distinctly unimpressed with the manner in which the top-order - himself included - lost their wickets at regular intervals, increasing the pressure on the players further down, and boosting the opposition's confidence.
"What we did do today was keep Ireland in the game for a long time," said Fleming.
"We couldn't get partnerships working, the captaincy and field-placings were good and put us under pressure, and we succumbed at key times.
"We didn't do the little things well, not out of a lack of respect for Ireland but because of a lack of respect for the conditions. That's probably why were a bit disappointed with some of the positions we got ourselves into."
New Zealand hadn't played for a week before yesterday's game and there was a suggestion that the long lay-off had robbed them of some of their matchplay momentum, effectively forcing them to start again.
More likely however, was the suggestion that the pedestrian-slow pitch, set on a sand-based outfield that was recently a field of sugarcane, made batting a difficult assignment.
"I just thought we were trying to go at a 350-run pace when we batted and apart from Pete [Fulton] didn't respect the basics, like getting in and getting a partnership going," said Fleming.
"That was something I thought we'd eradicated at this tournament but the first four partnerships - 35, 24, 24, and 35 - suggests the team was let down at the top, rather than anywhere else."
The catalogue of dismissals included Fleming slicing a ball to point, Hamish Marshall falling to another attempted lofted drive, Scott Stryris flaying at a slower ball, Craig McMillan backing away to the legside and being caught at backward point, Fulton sweeping and Jacob Oram holing out in the deep.
Fleming said he expected an improvement in his batsmen's shot selection when the side moved to Grenada for the three top-billing games against Sri Lanka (Friday morning NZT), South Africa (Sunday), and Australia (Friday week).
"We're at the business end, close to the semis - only needing to win one more game and then it's going to come down to two games of cricket to win the World Cup.
"That's an exciting prospect for everyone, but also a scary one. We've got three tough games now, in which we all have to remain in-form and try to be smart in our assessment of the conditions."
NZ winning streak
Record (10 wins)
Began February 2004 and ended in September
v South Africa at Christchurch won by 5 wickets
v South Africa at Wellington won by 5 runs
v South Africa at Dunedin won by 6 wickets
v South Africa at Auckland won by 2 runs
v South Africa at Napier won by 5 wickets
v England at Chester-le-Street won by 7 wickets
v West Indies at Cardiff won by 5 wickets
v England at Bristol won by 6 wickets
v West Indies at London won by 107 runs
v US at London won by 201 runs
Current winning streak
From February 2007
v Australia at Wellington (Chappell-Hadlee Trophy) won by 10 wickets
v Australia at Auckland won by 5 wickets
v Australia at Hamilton won by 1 wicket
v England at St Lucia (World Cup) won by six wickets
v Kenya at St Lucia won by 148 runs
v Canada at St Lucia won by 114 runs
v West Indies at Antigua won by 7 wickets
v Bangladesh at Antigua won by 9 wickets
v Ireland at Georgetown won by 129 runs
