Cricket: Bond, Styris, likely for Black Caps semi at Mohali

The news continues to brighten over the Champions Trophy prospects of fast-bowler Shane Bond and all-rounder Scott Styris.

The pair were the major concerns after playing influential roles in last week's win against Pakistan and appeared to be in danger of missing New Zealand's semifinal at Mohali on Wednesday.

But batsman Peter Fulton said from New Delhi last night that, although both were still under an injury cloud, there was a feeling of optimism in the squad that they would be available.

Bond attended New Zealand practice yesterday but Styris opted to rest his troublesome back and hamstring and remained at the hotel.

"Everyone seems to be fairly confident they'll be okay for the semi," Fulton said. "There's a bit of time to go yet. They're both keen as mustard, and the feeling right now is that they're far more likely to play than not play.

"In the end it'll come down to the question of how much the management wants to risk them, but if you had to make a call right now, you'd say there's a good chance of them playing."

Fulton said the only other player under a fitness cloud - batsman Hamish Marshall - had overcome his stomach ailment and also practised yesterday, ahead of today's return journey to Mohali.

Having qualified as the Pool B second seeds, New Zealand will square off in their semifinal against the Pool A winners, who will only be known after the result of this morning's game between Australia and India.

The only certainty is that the loser will be eliminated from the competition and that the winner will join the West Indies as one of the two qualifiers from Pool A.

Run-rate will determine which side finishes first and draws the semifinal against New Zealand and which heads to Jaipur for Thursday's second semifinal against South Africa.

Fulton said New Zealand had no preference about who they met, saying they respected all three possible opponents but still rated their own chances of carrying the day. "We know we can beat Australia and India - we've done it before and we can do it again. We've also a got a strong recent record against the West Indies, so it doesn't really matter who it is.

"We've got a flexible squad that's used to playing in fluctuating conditions, as they are here, and I think we can cope with whatever's needed on the day - be it spin, seam, pace or runs.

"If anything, we're quite well-suited to this sort of environment."