New Zealand will look to repeat their Zimbabwe magic against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the World Cup, captain Daniel Vettori said on Friday.
The Kiwis skittled out Zimbabwe for 162 before racing to the target in 33.3 overs to seal an emphatic 10-wicket victory in their key Group A clash at the Sardar Patel Stadium.
The win consolidated New Zealand's hopes of making it to the quarter-finals after having lost to Australia in their previous outing. The Black Caps had beaten Kenya, also by 10 wickets, in their opening match.
"This is the performance we were looking for," said Vettori. "We now need to replicate it against the bigger nations."
New Zealand have still to play Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as well as lightweights Canada, in their remaining league matches. Vettori admitted their batting had been a concern going into the match against Zimbabwe.
"We thought long and hard about batting long. Brendon (McCullum) and Martin (Guptill) stood up and gave no one else an opportunity to bat, that was great."
McCullum (86) and Guptill (76) plundered runs at will to post the highest opening partnership of the tournament so far. "It was just about keeping to our game plan today," said Guptill, named man of the match. "Brendon and I did not want to push too hard and we kept going."
McCullum said the good show by their bowlers had made the batsmen's task easier. "It was a good partnership. It was definitely made a lot easier by the way we bowled. I thought we were outstanding with the ball."
"A win like this is very good for confidence."
Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura was devastated by the huge defeat. "It was very disappointing from ball one to the end," he said. "There are some things we are doing wrong, and we need to go back and work on them. The batting was so disappointing, every time we are losing 3-4 wickets in the first 15 overs." "It's a game to forget quickly and move onto the next game."
