Cricket: Black Caps set to face Malinga

Malinga, whose distinctive slinging round-arm action has made him perhaps the best death overs in the game. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand's opening World Cup game potentially just got several degrees tougher with the news that Sri Lanka's star bowler Lasith Malinga will be fit for the match at Hagley Oval this Saturday.

Malinga, whose distinctive slinging round-arm action has made him perhaps the best death overs bowler in the game, confirmed yesterday he will be fit for the game, after a long recovery from ankle surgery which has sidelined him since last August.

"Yes, definitely," he said when asked yesterday if he would be ready to return for the clutch game, although he will be underdone.

"I'm getting better, there's a big tournament coming on and my feeling is that I will use the pain and I will play."

Senior New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor labelled Malinga "the best death bowler probably who has ever played cricket".

So while New Zealand delighted in a 4-2 series win over Sri Lanka, the balance is likely to have swung to at least a more even keel going into Saturday's game.

Before that, though, New Zealand have two official warmup games, starting with Zimbabwe at Lincoln today.

Indeed, the World Cup is starting to feel like a clock with its hands slowing down,

Just as you think "get on with it" six days of official warm-ups are under way, having started with Australia facing old friends India in Adelaide last night.

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Also today, South Africa face Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval.

After a rousing ODI lead-up against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, when they won six of eight matches, if you think New Zealand are obsessing about winning games ahead of the cup, think again.

The build-up has confidence high and fans are buzzing.

However, experienced Grant Elliott made it clear yesterday there's no chest-thumping from the New Zealand squad.

"We've been fortunate in winning a lot of games, but we're not too results driven," he said yesterday.

"It's all about the process and enjoying it and making sure everyone in the team is fulfilling their roles."

Asked if he felt there was a danger of New Zealand having peaked too early, Elliott demurred: "I don't think there's any such thing as peaking too early."

That's debatable, but as the cup draws nearer, New Zealand have been talked up as a team with a real prospect of breaking two ducks - making their first final, and winning one.

That talk hasn't been coming from the New Zealand players, Elliott said.

"It's quite a good group when we're away from cricket; we don't talk much about it."

Zimbabwe played a couple of games against a Northern Districts XI in Gisborne last week, winning both: one impressively, the second narrowly. But captain Elton Chigumbura believes his team got much out of the exercise.

They begin against neighbours South Africa in Hamilton next Sunday. They lost all five ODIs in Bangladesh in November but 28-year-old allrounder Chigumbura, a veteran of 169 ODIs, is optimistic.

"We will try and play our best cricket and be positive."

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