Cricket: Fleming sees positives from stuttering victory

New Zealand played some of their ugliest cricket of the tour so far to beat Zimbabwe by 27 runs in their Tri-Series match in Harare yesterday.

But the performance may also prove to be their most valuable to date.

A total of 238 did not do the New Zealand batting order justice, and Zimbabwe's reply of 211 was a few too many for comfort.

Finally, since their arrival in Zimbabwe almost a month ago, the Black Caps were stretched. Not seriously - they were in no danger of losing to perhaps the worst side in international cricket - but they were certainly in a scrape.

As New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming made plain, it was about time.

"The adrenalin was running a bit because it got quite close at the end, but that was good for us," he said.

"We didn't play well throughout, we never really got out of second gear, but sometimes you need those kind of wins.

"They keep you focused for the rest of the tournament.

"We stuttered our way through the innings and scraped to 238 - against India we've got to be better than that."

Far from being concerned over yesterday's events, Fleming was satisfied his team would consequently be better prepared for Tuesday's final.

"It's a good exercise for us, a line in the sand as to where we need to be," he said.

"Twice now we've fallen short of that mark, but it's not going to take much to get there."

The result, New Zealand's third win in as many matches and Zimbabwe's third loss, confirmed the Black Caps and India for the final, which means tonight's match between the finalists could be a tricky, spy-versus-spy affair.

"We can look at what we want to get out of it," Fleming said. "We want to win, firstly, but we can look at other things, like whatever information there is to be gathered, because there is the bigger picture to consider."

True to that way of thinking, Fleming gave nothing away about the state of the strained hamstring that kept Chris Cairns out of yesterday's match.

"His hamstring is a bit tight and we're nursing him through," Fleming said.

"Hopefully, he'll be fit for the game against India."

Scott Styris (63), Nathan Astle (61) and Daniel Vettori (47) top scored for the Black Caps.

Zimbabwe's captain, Tatenda Taibu, had his best day in weeks and it showed on his beaming face.

"We've definitely improved in our bowling and in the field, and our batting is also better," Taibu said.

"It was getting close at the end, and maybe we should have been more positive at the start and in the middle of our innings.

"We've been having problems against the new ball, so my message to the guys was to try and spend more time at the crease and get some confidence back."

Zimbabwe survived the new ball better than they have done to date, but Shane Bond returned to dismiss Andy Blignaut and Blessing Mahwire with consecutive deliveries to end with four for 17 from seven overs.

- NZPA