Softball: Ones to watch

Former Black Sox third baseman DEAN RICE casts his eye over the New Zealand side and who he thinks will be their toughest opponents

The Black Sox

They are extremely strong right across the board. Hitting wise, they are very strong. But they have very good speed as well. They don't just hit big home runs and charge around bases - they can get hit singles and turn them into doubles. They also are very sound defensively.

I think in the past one of our biggest strengths is what we do off the diamond.

Once you get to that top four/top five, everyone is strong offensively and defensively but I always thought we had an edge in that we had values, standards and we were always so well prepared.

Playing at home in our season should be a major advantage for us. What could be a disadvantage is the expectations of the New Zealand public. It is very easy to get caught up in the hype instead of just playing ball.

This time there are a lot of big guns coming over to knock them off their perch. All those North American teams and Japan, they didn't like us winning back-to-back titles.

To be honest, New Zealand probably shouldn't be winning all these world titles. If you look at our player base, competition and facilities you can't compare us to North America and those Asian teams. We are not in the same league so we really shouldn't be popping those teams off quite as consistently as we do.

The Black Sox have a huge mountain to climb but they are in the best possible position. They have the talent to win it and the team to win it but that doesn't give them the right to win it.

Canada

Canada are going to be very strong. They have brought five pitchers. They play a similar style to New Zealand with their power pitching and power hitting. The Asian teams spot pitch and are very good at hitting spots and are outstanding defensively but maybe lack the power.

United States

The Americans are very experienced and they play at a very high level. They have got great competitions and millions of players to choose from. They have also got former Black Sox Mike White pitching for them. The strength of world softball is in the States. A good analogy of the US is like New Zealand in rugby. We should win World Cups but don't always.

Japan

They are a team who have really come on over the last two world series. Their pitching is extremely strong and they have great defence and their hitting has improved immensely.

Other top eight prospects

* Australia. They have improved immensely.

* Samoa. Although it is Samoa's first time in a world series, all the players are from New Zealand so they are going to be pretty strong.

* Venezuela (and maybe the Philippines). Both have improved in recent years.

* Great Britain. They have got former Black Sox Steve Jackson pitching for them. From what I can see the side are made up of New Zealanders, Canadians and a couple of British. They have stacked their team with players who have played at the highest level.

* Rice was with the New Zealand team when they won in 1996 and 2000 and finished second in 1988 and 1992.