Fleming Happy With Efficient Kiwis

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Fleming - pleased with his side.

By Richard Gibson, PA Sport, St Lucia

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming was pleased with the efficiency of his side as they booked a Super Eight spot with victory over Kenya.

The Black Caps progressed from Group C, which also contains England, by virtue of a resounding 148-run win at Beausejour.

Of all the associate countries gathered at the World Cup, Kenya, semi-finalists in 2003, are the most dangerous.

But four batsmen, including Fleming, hit half-centuries in an imposing score of 331 for seven, which made the result inevitable at the halfway stage.

"It was an efficient performance," said Fleming. "We respected the little things in the game that you would any time you played a so-called bigger opponent.

"We had a nervous start but got into the game quickly and never gave them any opportunity to cause us any tension or pressure.

"That is the key. If you can deny sides early on you can play the game with a lot more freedom and exploit the areas which aren't as strong as when you play the top sides."

Kenya were given a perfect start when, after captain Steve Tikolo won the toss, they claimed a breakthrough with the fourth ball of the day.

But they crucially dropped catches, most significantly man-of-the-match Ross Taylor on five and Scott Styris on 19, who went on to score 85 and 63 respectively.

"We are capable of doing better than we did today," Tikolo said. "If we had taken our chances we would have been talking a different story."

The loss of three wickets early in an improbable chase, and having to bat through heavy rain for a few minutes - conditions no Test team would have accepted - doused any fiery fightback.

"I was not very happy," said Tikolo. "I thought we should have come off."

Having already been off for a five-minute rain break, the players were eventually driven from the field for a further 15-minute period and New Zealand attempted to plough through their overs upon the resumption to force a result.

"There was talk about losing the rest of the day and with just a day in between we wanted to get 20 overs in and get out of here," explained Fleming. "The pace of the game slowed down and for one reason or another there was a bit of gamesmanship going on.

"It was always going to cause a bit of frustration."