Cricket: Black Caps face demotion

Stephen Fleming says one loss doesn't make a bad team.

New Zealand got some good news and some bad news last night as they put the final touches on their preparations for today's third one-dayer at Eden Park.

Two-nil down in the five-match series, New Zealand received some slight comfort yesterday when Australia opted to rest metronomic paceman Glenn McGrath and in-form opening batsman Matthew Hayden.

But the bad news was an International Cricket Council bulletin confirming that New Zealand would be usurped as No 2-ranked team if they didn't win any of their last three ODIs against Australia.

A demotion would have a far-reaching effect on New Zealand, as the seedings for the 2007 Cricket World Cup will be determined on the basis of the rankings list at the end of March.

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said yesterday that he didn't want to be distracted by the rankings, as they were a reflection of performance rather than a goal or an objective for the team.

"We need to win to stay No 2 and that's fair if you want to be as high as we are. To be a worthy No 2 you have to be able to press the No 1, and hopefully we can manage that."

New Zealand were hammered by 106 runs at Christchurch, prompting much gnashing of teeth and a call for fresh tactics for the remaining games.

But Fleming was quick to cite his team's record over the past 13 or 14 months, saying he didn't see the sense in throwing out what had been a winning formula because of one heavy loss.

Since beating Pakistan at Eden Park last January, New Zealand have lost only six of 25 completed ODIs - four against Australia and one each against South Africa and Pakistan.

"I think the temptation is to make change, but you've got to be realistic and remember that we've won 80 per cent of our games lately, so to change the way we play would probably be foolhardy," said Fleming.

"We've got to make sure we stay true to what we do best, that we make sure we're accurate in the field, with the ball and with the bat - and we haven't done that lately."

New Zealand have fresh batting options in the squad after the addition of James Marshall and Michael Papps, but have lost Andre Adams to a relapse of the viral illness that has troubled him all summer.

Fleming said the bowlers had dissected their Christchurch performance and were anxious to make significant improvements today, particularly in their accuracy.

"They've done it before and I keep coming back to our recent record - one bad game doesn't mean we've all of sudden got bad bowlers."

Australian captain Ricky Ponting said yesterday that Simon Katich would open instead of Hayden, who still hadn't fully recovered from the shoulder injury suffered in Christchurch.

McGrath would be replaced by Michael Kasprowicz, leaving Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie to lead the attack with the new ball.

The teams

* New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Michael Papps, Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall, James Marshall, Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Jeff Wilson, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey.

* Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz.