KEY POINTS:
Stephen Fleming is prepared to say it now. New Zealand believe they can qualify for their first World Cup final after brushing aside the West Indies in the opening bout of their Super Eights campaign.
The Group C winners steamrolled the hosts for 177 in 44.4 overs and then made no race of the chase, eclipsing the target with more than 10 overs to spare while stretching their winning streak to seven.
Scott Styris anchored the New Zealand innings with an unbeaten 80 after man-of-the-match Jacob Oram, Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori each took three wickets, and Brendon McCullum starred behind the stumps with four catches.
New Zealand are now in the charmed position of almost being guaranteed their next two wins, against Bangladesh and Ireland, and should be close to cementing their semifinals place with three Super Eights games still to play.
Wary of underestimating the minnows, Fleming said both games would represent difficult challenges, but admitted that his team were growing with every outing and were anxious to become the first New Zealand side to make a World Cup final.
"We've got a couple of tricky encounters coming up," he said. "Bangladesh tripped us up in the warm-up match and Ireland have tested Pakistan. But if we continue the way we're playing, we'll not be far away.
"That's exciting. Each game we tick off brings us one closer to the semis - but the final is really what we're after."
Fleming said it wasn't clear whether eight points would be enough to qualify for the semis, and that New Zealand really needed to concentrate on winning their next game rather than focusing on the minimum number of points.
New Zealand will have eight points if they dispatch Ireland and Bangladesh, and it would be a surprise if they can't win at least one of their last three games and cement their place in the final four.
"Eight might be enough, but ideally we'd like at least 10 - it could be a bit of a logjam. Part of the reason we put the foot down against the West Indies was the issue of run-rates, and how much they'll play in the eventual standings.
"Eight points with a good run-rate might be enough but there's still a lot to pan out yet."
As for his main rivals, Fleming wasted no time naming Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia while he still believed New Zealand, on their day, could beat all three.
"Australia's still the team to beat, certainly. They're playing some good cricket but so are other teams. It's hard to know how it's going to pan out - it's going to be tight."
What Fleming was certain about, however, was that the research and development within the squad during the first half of this season was starting to pay off.
"We've never been as well prepared as this," he said. "We've looked at pretty much every scenario and some of them twice. We've paid attention to succession-planning and have copped a bit of stick for it - but it was with a view to being as prepared as possible.
"We've had a tough week losing Lou Vincent and Ross Taylor, but we're able to fall back on experienced players and that's had a settling effect on the team. We still got through the week okay whereas in the past it might have impacted negatively on the side."
Another big plus for Fleming yesterday was the bowling of Oram, who celebrated a return to form with a three-wicket bag, and helped make the initial inroads into the West Indian top-order.
Oram, who was injured at the start of the tri-series in Australia, had shown compelling form with the bat without being able to fully hit his straps at the bowling crease. However, that all changed yesterday.
"Jacob's been outstanding with the bat since his return but his bowling today was impressive," said Fleming. "To get the extra bounce on pitches like this is important for us. You talk about top all-rounders and think of Andrew Flintoff. Well, Jake's right up there as well as far as I'm concerned."
Oram said the performance yesterday was something of a relief for him after a relatively meagre return with the ball.
"Since coming back into the team in Australia I couldn't have been happier with my batting," he said. "The bowling's been the issue and I've been working hard on that. I'd like to think it's paid off but I also realise the pitch was helpful."
* Richard Boock has been assisted to the West Indies by New Zealand Cricket.
