Hesson: We respect Scotland

CHANGE: Nathan McCullum may come in for Daniel Vettori.PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

NEW ZEALAND coach Mike Hesson is tipping upsets during the World Cup - and that's part of the reason he slightly bristled at a description of tomorrow's opponents Scotland.

The preparatory week leading up to the start of the cup produced some eyebrow-raising performances - always with the codicil that they were practice days.

Even so, Hesson expects surprises in the group stage of the cup.

"If sides take any other side lightly, they can get turned over," he said. "I think there'll be a number of upsets in this tournament."

When asked whether the Scots represented a chance for some rotating and tinkering ahead of perceived bigger games coming up against England and Australia, Hesson demurred.

"We don't define them as lesser games," he said.

"Scotland smashed Ireland [recently] and have put a lot of other sides under pressure. We will respect Scotland as much as we do every other team."

That said, there may be changes for tomorrow, once players' aches and pains have been assessed.

Three games in seven days mean it makes no sense to flog players. Expect Nathan McCullum to replace Dan Vettori as the sole spinner to play Scotland, for example. Speedster Adam Milne, with England in Wellington on Friday in mind, will probably get a day off as well.

However, Hesson also knows that the old New Zealand default position of easing themselves under the radar is not going to work this time.

"I don't think we can do that. We've performed well for a while, so people have taken notice of our performances. If we keep performing well we will get attention."

New Zealand were "pretty chuffed" not only at winning their first group game against Sri Lanka by 98 runs in Christchurch on Saturday, but also by the manner of the victory.

Celebrations had been "pretty muted" though after a day which had a high emotional content attached to it. "We've had about 27 games building up to this game, so it's been fairly draining. The guys are pretty chuffed at the fact we put up a performance we can be proud of."

The Scots and their coach, former New Zealand player and Northern Districts stalwart Grant Bradburn, had their first look at University Oval yesterday, during a full practice session.

They are at home in the Edinburgh of the south. Scottish flags have been conspicuous in Dunedin and Mommsen - South African-born but a longtime resident of Scotland - said his players were delighted with the location for two of their group games (they also have a clutch game against fellow associate member country Afghanistan in Dunedin on February 26).

They came two runs short of beating New Zealand at Lincoln in October on an early-season visit, 263 shading 262, which, while a practice game, gave the Scots a huge fillip.

"It gave us great confidence of taking a full member country playing very good cricket close," Mommsen said yesterday.

"A lot of those players will be playing on Tuesday but we know we've got to start again. You've got to earn the right to take the game deep."