The New Zealanders are back in the nets preparing for their firstmatch of the second round of the Coca Cola Cup against Sri Lanka atthe Premadasa Stadium which will be played on Wednesday
Rex Clementine24-Jul-2001The New Zealanders are back in the nets preparing for their firstmatch of the second round of the Coca Cola Cup against Sri Lanka atthe Premadasa Stadium which will be played on Wednesday.The Black Caps beat India convincingly in their first round match ofthe Coca Cola Cup while in the match against the host nation, theywent down after a gallant fight.After the matches in Dambulla were shifted to Colombo, the teammanagement decided for a two day outing in Kandy. "Well, the onlyreason to go out of Colombo was because we didn’t want to spend threeand half weeks in the same hotel in Colombo. That was to give the guysa different atmosphere. But I tell you we haven’t neglected anypractice opportunities" said Jeff Crowe, the manager of the NewZealand team."We fitted in the essentials of our programme during our stay inKandy. For example we did our gym sessions over there and the playersare looking forward."Reflecting on the two matches the Black Caps have played, the NewZealand manager said; "We would have liked to win both the gamesobviously. But we played better cricket in the second game. In thefirst game we were bit rusty, but I still feel we had chance to winthat game as well. But more importantly, we checked our mistakes onthe second game and we are improving" said Crowe who has been themanager of the side for close to two years."Even in the game against India, our batsmen struggled. But we’veaddressed that issue and we have to see that we won’t repeat themistakes in the matches ahead," said the former New Zealand captain.Talking about the second round matches of the tournament, Crowe said;"We are looking forward for both the games and want to do well tobook a place in the final," Crowe continued, "The prime importancewill be to beat Sri Lanka. We’ve lost the first match against them,then they defeated us at home few months back. If we can puteverything that we’ve been practicing, that’s it."In the one day game, the New Zealanders cornered the headlines whenthey won the ICC knockout tournament in Kenya last year, but all thegood work was spoilt after the side lost two successive series to SriLanka and South Africa soon after."I think we are capable of winning the Coca-Cola Cup. We have shownin the past that we’ve got the nucleus to win tournaments. We provedthat in the ICC knockout tournament" reflected Crowe. "But this isnot a knock-out tournament. Here you’ve got to be consistent and whenit comes to the final it’s the team that’s good on that day."However, a key player missing in the side is Chris Cairns who wasinstrumental in leading the side for victory during the ICC knockouttournament, "He’s a world class player. No doubt about it.Unfortunately he’s not here so you can’t worry about that."The Black Caps’ chances of going through to the final increased afterIndia fell to bottom of the points table with a poor run rate as well.No one can take them lightly and they are capable of doing what theyaccomplished in Kenya last year.