NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Cricket / Cricket World Cup

Cricket World Cup: Black Caps unbeaten - 'It's going pretty good'

By David Leggat
Reporter·NZ Herald·
4 Mar, 2015 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Anderson shrugs off concerns about NZ’s middle order.

New Zealand played four, won four, are top of their group and sailing along nicely towards the World Cup quarter-final in Wellington this month.

All tickety-boo, then, for the co-hosts. But a closer inspection offers a couple of areas where there might be an issue to furrow New Zealand's brow - death bowling and lack of middle-order productivity.

New Zealand's top-order batting and key early bowling have been impressive, but encouraging as that is, the flipside is that a couple of areas have yet to be fully examined.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Their ability to make life awkward in the closing 10 overs of an opponent's innings hasn't been tested in the Cup.

Sri Lanka were well off the pace in their chase in the opening game in Christchurch; Scotland didn't get that far in Dunedin, batting first; England were blown away by Tim Southee in Wellington and there were only 55.3 overs bowled in the entire thriller against Australia at Eden Park last Saturday.

And while it's all very well trumpeting how impressively Southee and co have gone about their work, it's reasonable to assume New Zealand's skills in the closing overs will be under scrutiny in a couple of weeks.

It's hard to have both, though, and better to truck along as they are, argued allrounder Corey Anderson yesterday ahead of Sunday's game against Afghanistan at McLean Park and next week's final pool match against Bangladesh in Hamilton.

"If you're winning games and bowling teams out for 150 then you're doing your job pretty well," Anderson said. "And if the lower order is not having to bat much, it means the guys at the top are doing their job as well. So it's all going pretty good."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Caught up in the Mitchell Starc cyclone that sliced through New Zealand's middle and lower order on Saturday, Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott were out for one and 0 respectively, Luke Ronchi for six.

Taylor has 29 runs off 49 balls in the Cup; Elliott 48 off 66 and Ronchi 47 off 36.

Martin Guptill, captain Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson and Anderson have mustered 567 between them out of a total of 754.

"Not necessarily," Anderson said when asked if there were concerns at that lack of time for the middle, in the middle. "It was not that long ago that we saw a lot of guys getting runs - Ronks [Ronchi] got 170 in Dunedin [against Sri Lanka pre-cup], Ross got 100 here last time [Napier, February 3 against Pakistan].

Discover more

New Zealand

NZ@Noon: 'Dumb' fire and a drug-dealing teen

03 Mar 11:00 PM
Cricket World Cup

McCullum cleared to face Afghanistan

03 Mar 11:57 PM
Cricket World Cup

Australia post record win

04 Mar 05:00 PM
Cricket World Cup

Cricket World Cup: 1992 v 2015

04 Mar 04:04 AM

"We've had plenty of time in the middle, big breaks in between [games] and lots of time in the nets. I don't think there's any need to say anyone's out of form. I think we're trucking pretty nicely."

As for the lack of closing overs action, and with it the chance to assess how plans are panning out, Anderson said New Zealand's bowlers had been working hard in training, "so if we get in that position, we'll be fine". "It's nice to have teams out before the 30th or 35 overs but we've got to make sure when things aren't going our way we have to keep a calm head," he added.

"That's what Brendon has done well with us."

Don't expect to see a change in philosophy for the remaining group games. There's no need to rush with run rates in mind, but the broad thrust of going hard remains New Zealand's modus operandi of choice. And after all, it's worked well so far.

For more coverage of the Cricket World Cup from nzherald.co.nz and NZME check out #CricketFever.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Cricket World Cup

New Zealand

Former Black Caps coach claims players were 'egotistical buggers'

White Ferns

White Ferns hold nerve to beat West Indies, advance to World Cup final

White Ferns

Devine and Bates set for ninth consecutive T20 World Cup


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Cricket World Cup

Former Black Caps coach claims players were 'egotistical buggers'
New Zealand

Former Black Caps coach claims players were 'egotistical buggers'

Andy Moles hasn't held back about Brendon McCullum and other ex-Black Caps in a new book.

12 Jul 02:00 AM
White Ferns hold nerve to beat West Indies, advance to World Cup final
White Ferns

White Ferns hold nerve to beat West Indies, advance to World Cup final

18 Oct 05:27 PM
Devine and Bates set for ninth consecutive T20 World Cup
White Ferns

Devine and Bates set for ninth consecutive T20 World Cup

10 Sep 02:06 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP