KEY POINTS:
You get the feeling that if New Zealand are ever going to win the Cricket World Cup, it's going to be in four weeks' time at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Never mind all this guarded optimism nonsense, New Zealand are facing a second-round draw so favourable that they should nail down a semifinal place and put themselves within two wins of glory.
Talk about blessed.
New Zealand teams usually make heavy weather of qualifying for the semis, but it's hard to imagine this one having too much trouble, given they start with a two-point lead on four of their rivals, and will play at least one (Ireland) and maybe two (Bangladesh) minnows along the way.
It's not so much a matter of if they'll make the semis, but of what position they'll end up occupying.
I only hope they can make the most of their advantage and storm through the Super Eights with such purpose that they remain in complete control of their semifinal destiny.
They have a chance to play so well through the second round that they could reach a position from which they can manipulate their semifinal opponent on the basis of their last couple of matches.
Dare I say it, but if New Zealand win their first four Super Eight games - two of which could be gimmes - they'd not only be assured of a semifinal place, but of a heavy influence on the subsequent qualifiers.
There's a bit of ground to cover but the draw could hardly be better from this point on and the team has shown reasonable progress after posting their sixth consecutive win yesterday.
I don't believe the West Indies will be able to maintain their momentum and expect they will eventually join England as two of the big losers in the Super Eights.
That would leave New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka as the likely semifinalists, and our guys will play all three in the second half of the Super Eights at Grenada.
Can you imagine the dilemma if New Zealand find themselves in a position where, for example, a loss against Sri Lanka would mean Australia was eliminated from the final four?
Whatever happens there, I haven't tried to read too much into New Zealand's pool games, apart from the solid win against England in the campaign opener at St Lucia.
The best I can say about the performance to date is that they did well to win the game that really mattered against England, and to avoid slipping on any imaginary banana skins against Kenya and Canada.
But it didn't come as any great surprise that Pakistan failed on that score and were eliminated prematurely at the hands of Ireland, or that Bangladesh tipped over India.
Pakistan have always been a volatile side, prone to crashing against any opponent, and Bangladesh is a team on the rise and will soon be the equal of all three of their subcontinental neighbours.
People have often questioned the relevance of the so-called minnows, but I'd put Bangladesh in an entirely different category to the likes of Bermuda, Scotland, Canada and the Netherlands.
Most of those sides are genuine sprats, filled with ex-pats and the elderly, unlike Bangladesh - who can tap into a blossoming population of eager and passionate young hopefuls, and plot their future with some certainty.
New Zealand might have the chance to get their hands on the silverware on this occasion, but I'm sure that one day in the not-too-distant future, a Bangladeshi captain will have his turn.
