Fleming seeks rematch

BLACKCAPS captain Stephen Fleming was determined to get another chance to defeat Australia after his team’s heavy defeat in Grenada.

The New Zealanders were on the receiving end of a 21-run reverse to the world champions in both side’s final ICC World Cup Super Eight series match.

Fleming admitted: “It was a bad day for us. That was probably our worst performance. Whether that was because of the dead nature of the game I don’t know.

“We were keen to play well and go into the semi-finals with a bit of confidence. It hasn’t been dented that much but it was a tough day for us.

“We gave Australia opportunities to take wickets throughout. We placed ourselves under pressure with the ball and came up well and truly short.

“Hopefully we’ll get one more opportunity, depending on the Australia/South Africa semi-final. If we do get that opportunity I’m sure we’ll put in a better performance.”

Australia captain Ricky Ponting was delighted by the result, completed by dismissing the BLACKCAPS for 131 after posting 346 for six.

He said: “Once again our batting was terrific. We had some great partnerships at the top of the innings which laid the foundation for the guys down the order to smack it about a bit.

“At the moment we are very confident, we are playing some excellent cricket and we are going to take a lot of beating in that semi-final.”