By RICHARD BOOCK in Johannesburg
Shane Bond can be forgiven for feeling a tad more pressure than most as New Zealand prepare for their "must-annihilate" showdown against Canada at Benoni tonight.
The strike bowler will be the central figure as the New Zealanders attempt to keep their second-round hopes alive with a
run-rate boosting win over the Canadians, who have already proved competitive in their matches against the West Indies and South Africa.
The first round placings will finally take shape tomorrow morning after New Zealand's game and the much-anticipated day-nighter between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Durban - a match that will determine whether New Zealand qualify directly, or fall into a run-rate showdown against the Sri Lankans.
If Sri Lanka, who effectively eliminated the West Indies on Friday, beat the hosts at Kingsmead, New Zealand will qualify in third place as long as they can account for Canada, which seems well within their reach.
But if the result goes the other way and South Africa come up trumps at Durban, New Zealand will be plunged into a run-rate stand-off against Sri Lanka for third place.
Whatever happens in the last round, Kenya are assured of making the Super Six after their 32-run win against Bangladesh yesterday at the Wanderers, coming on top of their win against Sri Lanka and the points they gained from New Zealand's forfeit.
Bond said yesterday that the New Zealand squad would feel hard done by if they were eliminated from the tournament after effectively losing only one game.
"I think we've got one of the best-balanced sides in the tournament and it was frustrating for everyone that we didn't get to play Kenya.
"To have to pack our bags after just one loss would be annoying to say the least - but it might be out of our control."
Bond, who has taken 38 wickets in 22 ODIs, said he could accept the responsibility for making things happen against Canada tonight, but could not agree with the expectation that New Zealand would pulverise their opposition.
"It was the same against Bangladesh in a way. We talk about putting them in and bowling them out for a hundred but, on these flat and pretty tired pitches, it's easier said than done.
"Over here, you can't just run in and expect to blow teams away; you've got to be patient and realise that a wicket's not going to come with every ball.
"And I guess there's an extra bit of pressure on me because I'm the quickest and you sort of feel that if you're not blowing guys away, you're not doing your job."
Canada have some useful players in John Davison - who cracked the tournament's fastest century against the West Indies - and New Zealander Ian Billcliff, who played for Otago, Wellington and Auckland before making the move overseas.
Adding to the complications for Bond is the heat on the high veldt, which is proving just as difficult for the cricketers as it has in the past for New Zealand rugby teams.
Bond has proved susceptible to intense heat in previous seasons, and was hospitalised after a particularly steamy night in Brisbane last summer, but he has still been surprised by the high temperatures experienced in Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Kimberley.
"The heat over here is pretty extreme. If there's cloud cover it's in the early 30s. If there's not, it's in the early 40s and, even though you might not notice it at the time, I think it does have an effect, especially when you're coming back for a second or third spell.
"It's a long 50 overs in South Africa and at the end of it most of the bowlers are absolutely knackered, especially the quicks. It makes it hard to recover, you feel your heart-rate going flat out all the time. You're even sucking it in big-time when you're cruising around the outfield."
Bond attempts to beat heat-related problems by throwing himself into an ice-bath once off the field and, after a minute in the ice-cubes, putting himself under a hot shower.
He said at this time of the season, the claim that fast bowlers received plenty of assistance from South African pitches was wide of the mark.
"They talk about how you can bowl a bit quicker over here but, in all fairness, the wickets are pretty dry and slow. After about five or six overs it's pretty much straight up and down."
Teams
New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (capt), Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Andre Adams, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Shane Bond, Chris Harris, Mathew Sinclair, Lou Vincent.
Canada (from): Joe Harris (capt), Nicholas de Groot, Desmond Chumney, Austin Codrington, John Davison, Ashish Bagai, Ian Billcliff, Nick Ifill, Davis Joseph, Ishawar Maraj, Ashish Patel, Abdool Samad, Fazil Samad, Barry Seebaran, Sanjayan Thuraisingham.
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
Pool A: Namibia v Netherlands, Bloemfontein
Pool B: New Zealand v Canada, Benoni, Sky Sports channels 10 and 12, 8.30pm.
TOMORROW:
Pool B: South Africa v Sri Lanka, Durban (D/N), starts approx 1.15am.
World Cup schedule
Points table
By RICHARD BOOCK in Johannesburg
Shane Bond can be forgiven for feeling a tad more pressure than most as New Zealand prepare for their "must-annihilate" showdown against Canada at Benoni tonight.
The strike bowler will be the central figure as the New Zealanders attempt to keep their second-round hopes alive with a
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