By RICHARD BOOCK
New Zealand's waning one-day form may yet carry them into the group of death at the 2003 cricket World Cup.
Eliminated at the semifinal stage of the 1999 tournament, New Zealand have since plummeted in the World Cup rankings and need to win at least one of their three ODIs in Pakistan next month to remain in the favourable half of the draw.
Unlike previous World Cups, the seedings system for the tournament in South Africa measures the results of all ODIs over a 27-month period, and the September 30 cut-off date cannot come quickly enough for the New Zealanders.
A month ago they were in sixth place and looking good for a berth in the more friendly of the two pools, alongside South Africa, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, Bangladesh, Kenya and Canada.
However, a worst-case scenario in the three-match series in Pakistan would drop them to eighth place at the cut-off date, and into the pool comprising Australia, Pakistan, India, England, Zimbabwe, Holland and Namibia.
The top three sides from each group qualify for the tournament's second phase.
The last-minute jockeying for positions comes only a month after the World Cup executive director, Dr Ali Bacher, suggested there would be no noticeable change to the rankings during the closing stages of the qualifying period.
While that may be the case for the top five sides - Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India - it tends to overlook the scramble for sixth, seventh and eighth.
At the moment, New Zealand teeter on a 39 per cent success-rate after 20 wins from 51 matches, less than a percentage point ahead of the West Indies and not far clear of England, who languish in eighth position with 37.93.
The West Indies are expected to strengthen their record after their last two of three ODIs against Kenya next week, but New Zealand's win-ratio will drop to 37.03 if they cannot take a game off Pakistan.
On the other hand, just one win will be enough for New Zealand to arrest their decline at 38.80 and narrowly pip England for a berth in the much-preferred Pool B.
Once the teams are ranked, World Cup organisers will use a tennis-style format to determine the two groups, placing the first, fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth-seeded sides in Pool A, and the second, third, sixth, seventh and tenth-seeded teams in Pool B.
Cricket: NZ playing with fire over cup seeding
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