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James Hockley, the 31-year-old right-hand batsman, has been released by Kent with immediate effect.Hockley made his first-class debut in 1998 and enjoyed two spells with the club. However, in 30 first-class games his highest score was 82, and he made just one hundred for the club, against Warwickshire in the C&G Trophy in 2002.Commenting on his departure, Kent team director, Paul Farbrace, said: “I would like to thank James for the contribution he has made to Kent cricket. He has been an excellent squad player and worked hard in his second attempt at county cricket, after a period out of the game. The time is now right for him to move on and concentrate on his teaching career.”

Scorecard
Former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan took three wickets for Worcestershire on the third day of their County Championship match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.Stephen Peters, Rob Newton and Northants captain Andrew Hall all made half-centuries for the home side, who batted through the day in posting 385 for 9 declared at the close, with the game surely destined to be drawn.Peters top-scored with 75, with Shakib taking 3 for 75 and Alan Richardson claiming overall figures of four for 83 with an anti-climactic final day seemingly on the way tomorrow. After two days ruined by rain, Northants resumed their first innings on 96 for three, with opener Peters on 38 and youngster Newton yet to score.Peters went on to complete a patient half-century off 123 balls as the home side made a confident start. 20-year-old Newton reached his 50 in a more explosive fashion, smashing it off 59 balls including one superb six pulled over mid-wicket off Richardson.He added six more to his tally before his aggression proved to be his undoing when he launched Gareth Andrew to Richardson at deep square leg to end a fourth-wicket stand of 80 with Peters. Peters made it to 75 before being pinned lbw by Shakib in the last over before lunch. Richardson, who took two wickets on the first day, then dismissed Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura (nine) when the seamer forced him to edge to Worcestershire wicketkeeper Ben Cox in the third over after the second new ball was taken.Hall then became the third batsman to make a half-century for the hosts when he clouted his 129th ball, delivered by Jack Shantry, behind square leg for four. He and James Middlebrook survived until tea, with the pair completing a 50 partnership in the first over of the evening session.Hall had reached 65 before he feathered a Shakib delivery to Cox in the following over before Middlebrook, who had made a competent 40, saw his leg stump taken out by the same bowler. However, the ninth-wicket pairing of Northants wicketkeeper David Murphy and Jack Brooks made the visitors attack toil after that in producing a 50 stand of their own.Richardson ended their entertaining partnership of 68 when he comprehensively bowled Brooks, who had blasted 34 off 46 balls. Murphy stayed put for the rest of the day and finished on 36 not out, with Lee Daggett unbeaten on six at the other end as the hosts declared.

The fast bowler Ryan Harris has been ruled out of the opening match of Australia’s domestic season with lingering knee soreness. Harris had surgery after being ruled out of Australia’s Test series against Pakistan in July and he was scheduled to make his comeback in a Futures League game this week.However, Harris did not play the match and will continue to be assessed in the lead-up to Queensland’s first Sheffield Shield game of the summer, against Tasmania at the Gabba starting next Friday. Regardless of the personnel, Wednesday’s season-opening one-dayer against the Tigers will be fascinating for spectators.The clash will provide the first glimpse of the new domestic limited-overs format, a 45-over-a-side split-innings arrangement. Each team can use 12 players during the match and the Bulls have named the allrounder Jason Floros to make his state debut.The fast bowler Luke Feldman is also turning out for his first one-day game for Queensland, but remarkably he has already represented Australia A in limited-overs cricket. The Bulls will be led by their new captain James Hopes, although last year’s skipper Chris Simpson is also in the line-up.Queensland James Hopes (capt), Ryan Broad, Lee Carseldine, Chris Lynn, Craig Philipson, Nathan Reardon, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley (wk), Jason Floros, Chris Swan, Nathan Rimmington, Luke Feldman.

Match Facts

Friday, November 12
Start time 09.30 (04.00 GMT)
New Zealand will hope that Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder can produce big knocks•AFP

The Big Picture

New Zealand started the first Test in Ahmedabad short of confidence and a touch unsure about a few of their players. They ended it on a high, but a couple of concerns remain: Can the opener Tim McIntosh, if he is picked, prove to the world that he is not a walking wicket? Will BJ Watling get some runs at No.3? How will the batsmen handle a track that supposedly has more bounce? The Ahmedabad pitch was flat and the middle order cashed in. Ross Taylor expects the track at Uppal, hosting its first Test match, will have a bit more for the spinners. Hyderabad has hosted three Tests before this, all against New Zealand, at the multi-purpose Lal Bahadur Stadium.India went to Ahmedabad with a couple of worries – the batting form of Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid, and the bowling form of the spin twins Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha. Dravid scored a hundred in the first innings, but Gambhir and the spinners didn’t have much to smile about on a batsmen-friendly track. All of them practised hard in the nets in Uppal. As ever, Dravid had a long net session. Gary Kirsten fired down short balls from a tennis racquet and Dravid spent his time swaying away or riding the bounce.The conditions are slightly damp as there was some rain earlier in the week and It will be interesting to see whether the strip will provide some seam movement on the first day. Some have said that there might be bit more spin on this new pitch but Uppal has traditionally produced batsmen-friendly surfaces. We will have to wait and see how this particular track turns out.

Form guide

(most recent first)
India: DWWWD
New Zealand: DLLWD

Watch out for…

Ross Taylor‘s attacking instinct could come in handy if the pitch indeed helps the bowlers. He has the skill and the mindset to play with controlled aggression. It’s easy to imagine what he is likely to do: he will sweep a lot, he will shuffle to the off and try to work Harbhajan to the on side, and hang back to cut Ojha at every opportunity.Zaheer Khan looked like a caged tiger in Ahmedabad. He couldn’t get much seam movement with the new ball and couldn’t reverse the old one. He just didn’t lie down and wonder though. He bowled quite a few short deliveries – most of them well-directed – and tried to create something out of nothing but was thwarted by the pitch and the disciplined New Zealand batsmen. On a pitch that is likely to have more bounce, he could be more potent.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch has been prepared with a mixture of red and black soil – a combination which is common in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This has been a batsmen-friendly venue in the past and the last time it hosted an ODI, in November 2009, Sachin Tendulkar hit 175. “We are hoping and are also pretty confident that it would turn out to be a result-oriented one and the wicket is also expected to last five days,” YL Chandrasekhar, the curator said.Meanwhile India captain MS Dhoni says the wicket has been a good for one for Twenty20 games and one-dayers. “It’s not difficult to judge this wicket if you see past performances in games that have been played. The wicket is on the flatter side but has a bit of bounce which allows the batsman to play freely at the same time.”

Teams

Jesse Ryder is unlikely to bowl in the second Test due to a stiffness in his calf. James Franklin has replaced Hamish Bennett in the squad and could step in.New Zealand (probable): 1 Tim McIntosh, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 BJ Watling, 4 Ross Taylor,5 Jesse Ryder, 6 Kane Williamson, 7 Daniel Vettori (capt), 8 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 9 Jeetan Patel, 10 James Franklin, 11 Chris MartinIndia could have to choose between Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma. Dhoni admitted it would be a tough choice. “That’s a difficult one.Both of them are fit right now. The only thing that differentiates them is the length and the line they bowl. Sreesanth is more of a bowler who bowls a fraction up to the batsman. Ishant is more of a bowler who hits just back of a length,” he said. “It is a difficult pick but at the same time you try to justify your decision by having a clear look at the kind of wicket that will be provided. Accordingly you decide which is the bowler most suited to the conditions.”India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 Sreesanth/Ishant Sharma

Stats and trivia

• Paul Wiseman and Zaheer Khan hold the record for most ducks (4 times) in Tests between India and New Zealand.
• Tendulkar and Dravid have been dismissed “bowled” on 45 and 44 times respectively. Tendulkar (45) holds the Indian record for most bowled dismissals. Sunil Gavaskar has been out bowled 33 times.
• Vettori is set to join Richard Hadlee as the most capped New Zealand player (14 times) against India in Tests.

Quotes

“Some of the guys in the Indian side, I have watched since when I was young and I still do. I admire them but I believe the key for me is not to let it register that you are playing with these guys. Like they say, you play the ball not the man”

Jacob Oram, the New Zealand allrounder, has said that the hope of participating in the 2011 World Cup is motivating him to continue his injury-ridden career but failure to make the squad for the tournament could prompt him to retire. Oram is presently recovering from a knee surgery he had in September.”I remember talking to Shane Bond prior to his retirement, when he had that abdominal strain, and he told me that, for him, that was the one injury too many,” Oram told the . “I think I’m at that point and in that mindset right now.”I’m very highly motivated to go to the World Cup and if it wasn’t on I may have already hung the boots up by now. It’s a very big carrot for me and it may also be the swan song of my career. If that’s to be the case, I’d like to give it everything to try and make it.”Oram’s career has been interrupted by injuries to his knee, back, calf and Achilles tendon. In August, he suffered a recurrence of a patella-tendon injury during the tri-series in Sri Lanka and had surgery for it on September 2. He will not be fully fit in time for New Zealand’s Twenty20 matches against Pakistan before the year ends though he hoped to ease back into action around Christmas for Central Districts during the HRV Cup, New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 competition.

England’s coach Andy Flower believes that the deathly slow surface that England encountered in their drawn three-day warm-up match against Victoria this week was the perfect reality check after the highs of the Adelaide Test, and has backed his pace bowlers to take command of the livelier conditions that are anticipated at the WACA this week.England’s trip to Melbourne was billed as a three-way shoot-out between Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad, all of whom were in with a shout of replacing Stuart Broad in the Test attack following his stomach injury. However, on a tacky and docile pitch that offered little to any types of bowling, the trio returned combined figures of 1 for 216 in 78 overs to leave the selection debate somewhat cloudy.Flower, however, insisted that the identity of Broad’s replacement was still clear in his mind, although he would – as ever – wait until the morning of the match to unveil his final XI. “We’ve just had a three-day game on a pitch nothing like the Perth pitch,” he said. “It was quite hard work for fast bowlers and spinners alike, but quite a good exercise in getting back to reality for our team. After the highs of Adelaide, it was a really good workout, and now we’ve got to come and prepare for different conditions in Perth.””It was a good thing for us,” he added. “The hard work they had to put in, the number of overs they had to put in against a good Victorian side, was the perfect workout prior to this game. They have three days between the end of that match and this Test match, and it was ideal for the team as a whole. Adelaide was an important moment in the series and it was very important for us to keep our feet firmly on the floor thereafter, and the Victoria game helped us do that.”While Flower believed that the MCG wicket would be an entirely different beast come the Boxing Day Test match, he was pretty confident that this week’s WACA surface would offer significantly more life, if not quite the devastating pace and carry with which it forged its reputation from the 1970s onwards.”We don’t want to pre-judge what it will be like,” said Flower. “It hasn’t got the pace of yesteryear, but we do know this season it’s got a little quicker than past few years, which is great. We talked about it here [with the curator] during the three-day game, and he was a little disappointed with that pitch – not quite as quick as he thought it might be – and he indicated he wanted it as quick and bouncy as possible for the Test match, which I think is really exciting for everyone. It gives everyone a good chance and certainly makes for exciting cricket and that’s why we’re here. We’re here to compete and it should be an interesting spectacle for everyone.If the onus is on Australia to prepare sporting pitches in order to force the two wins in three matches that they need to regain the Ashes, then the likelihood of result-orientated surfaces could also play into the hands of the English, who would back themselves to claim 20 more wickets in conditions that play to the strengths of their spin and seam attack.”It gives everyone a chance, but in Test cricket generally those are the types of wickets we want to play on,” said Flower. “We want something that makes it interesting to watch and also interesting to play in. Some of the bland pitches that we see these huge scores and deadly boring draws on are not good for Test cricket, so we do want pitches where it’s a fair contest between bat and ball and good action for the spectators to watch.”In the short term, the focus of many of England’s players will be on the wives and children who have flown into Perth for the start of the festive season, having been forced to stay at home during the initial agenda-setting month of the trip. Some players, notably Kevin Pietersen, were less enamoured with the decision than others, but Flower maintained that the right work-play balance had been struck for the squad.”It’s quite a tricky decision to make,” he said. “Players and families are adults, and they want to be free to make their own decisions about which country they travel to or the timings of those trips. For other people, the management, to make those decisions for them is a little galling, but those are tricky decisions to make. Someone has to make them and we try to get it as right and as fair as possible.”We planned this a long time ago and the players were fully informed so we had full discussions and communication about it,” he added. “You can’t get everyone agreeing to whatever dates you put in, but the players in the end did react very well to it. We’re here to win the Test series, we aren’t here for a family holiday, and I think everyone’s handled it just fine so far.”James Anderson, who flew home after the Adelaide Test to attend the birth of his daughter, has arrived back with the squad after spending 48 hours of the past week on a plane, which Flower reiterated wasn’t an ideal situation for such a key player. But, he added: “In competition, you can’t always get perfect preparation. There are all sorts of things that can go wrong. Illness, injury, sometimes travel disruptions, family issues. This is just one of those things you’ve got to deal with, a little bit of reality that he has to deal with. He’ll have the same amount of practice as the rest of the guys.”

Marcus North, Doug Bollinger and Xavier Doherty have been axed, and Australia’s selectors have sprung a major surprise by naming the little-known spinner Michael Beer in their 12-man squad for the Perth Test. Phillip Hughes has been picked to replace the injured Simon Katich, while Steven Smith is a strong chance to play after no other specialist batsman was named to replace North.Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus are also likely to come back in to the side in what could be a four-man pace attack with Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle, who the selectors considered the best of the bowlers in the Adelaide loss. But it’s the inclusion of Beer that will raise eyebrows, especially with Nathan Hauritz fresh from a first-class century and five-wicket haul for New South Wales.”Michael Beer replaces Xavier Doherty in the squad,” Australia’s chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said. “Michael is a left-arm orthodox spinner who has been very impressive at domestic level this year. He took wickets against England in the tour match earlier this summer and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground.”But Hilditch’s comments seemingly ignore the fact that the WACA has been Beer’s home ground for only a few months, after he moved from Victoria during the off-season. He has played only three first-class matches at the ground and in his five first-class appearances, all of which have taken place this summer, he has 16 wickets at 39.93 with a best of 3 for 39.Beer, 26, is a left-arm orthodox bowler who plied his trade in Melbourne club cricket until the end of last season, when he moved to Western Australia in an attempt to launch his domestic career. Against the touring England side last month he 3 for 108 and 2 for 99, and the chances of him winning a place in the starting XI for the third Test must be slim.One man who will definitely play at the WACA is Hughes, who is not in his best form but was still considered the most likely replacement for Katich, who will miss the rest of the series with an Achilles tendon injury. The pressure on Hughes will be increased after Australia altered the balance of their squad by leaving out the specialist batsman North.North has had a disappointing start to the Ashes campaign and the strong batting form of Brad Haddin makes it likely that the wicketkeeper will move up to No. 6 with Smith at No. 7. Smith has played two Tests, against Pakistan in England in July, when he was chosen as a legspinner in the absence of the injured Hauritz, and if Beer doesn’t play he will be the lead slow bowler in Perth.”Steve Smith replaces Marcus North in the 12-man squad,” Hilditch said. “This is obviously disappointing for Marcus who has played some outstanding Test innings for Australia but it was felt to be the right time to bring the exciting prospect Steve Smith into the Test team. Steve has already had success at international level and will also add to the bowling depth with his leg-spin bowling and dynamic fielding.”Doug Bollinger has been omitted from the squad. Both Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus did not play in Adelaide but will be strongly considered for selection in the Perth Test match where conditions will suit them. Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle were the pick of our quicks at Adelaide Oval and these four make up the pace attack for the Perth Test match.Squad Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Fitness, and not form, seems to be the current refrain with India, who are going to announce their 2011 World Cup squad on Monday. They have taken every precautionary measure to ensure their first-choice players are fit for the tournament: Virender Sehwag, Praveen Kumar, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir have all been sent back from South Africa. If they are all fit, or if it is believed they will regain fitness by the time the event starts, this will be a fairly easy selection meeting. Thirteen of the 15 places are sealed, and the debate is likely to centre around the second reserve batsman and the reserve spinner.If India have everything their way, Tendulkar and Sehwag will be back to open the innings, followed by Gambhir at No.3. The middle order will comprise Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan, with Virat Kohli constantly pushing for a place in the starting XI. Harbhajan Singh will be the first-choice spinner, while the fast-bowler pool will contain the following players: Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel. Only injury should keep any of these 13 out.That leaves two places – an extra spinner and a middle-order batsman. R Ashwin, despite being the second-best limited-overs spinner in the country, might get overlooked because India already have an offspinner in Harbhajan, and most of their part-timers are offspinners too. That should make Pragyan Ojha the front-runner for the job – he has performed decently whenever he has been given a chance to play limited-overs games – but he seems to be out of favour for some reason. If the squad selected for the one-dayers in South Africa is any indication, expect to see Piyush Chawla in the side, even though he last played an ODI in July 2008.Rohit Sharma appears to be the most likely candidate to benefit from the loss of form of the other contenders. Dinesh Karthik, who would have been a natural choice because he can double up as a reserve keeper, has played himself out of the team over the last year; M Vijay has run into ordinary form; and Saurabh Tiwary is too inexperienced to pick for a World Cup. Moreover, Rohit – like Raina, Yusuf and Yuvraj – can bowl spin. The lack of options only shows how difficult it will become for India if everybody is not fit.India are not likely to choose a reserve keeper, but there is a solution to that. Even if they don’t have a reserve keeper in the official squad, they can always have one travel with them in case he is needed at short notice. Since India play all but one of their matches in India, arranging a visa will not be an issue either.Likely squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Piyush Chawla/Pragyan Ojha/R Ashwin

Ray Price knows he is a marked man in a must-win encounter between Zimbabwe and New Zealand on Friday. Daniel Vettori’s men will play him cautiously. Zimbabwe will rely on him to get the breakthroughs early on. Luckily for him, Price is not the one to get excited or easily bogged down. His enthusiasm in the field is infectious. He expects a lot out of himself and works hard at his job. It will be hard to ignore him.”He does a good job at the top of the order. We’ve got to be ready for it,” Daniel Vettori, New Zealand’s captain, said of Price. In the absence of good fast bowlers, Zimbabwe had found a way out, operating their spinners for majority of the innings. Against Australia, Zimbabwe’s spinners bowled 39 overs. After 10 overs the World Champions were stationed on 28 for 0; Price was the main hurdle and his tally of 6-0-18-0 in the first two Powerplays played an influential part in Australia failing to stamp their authority straightaway.A few days later, Price exposed Canada’s ineptness at playing quality spin, bowling seven overs on the trot – a match-winning spell (7-4-12-3) that included top-order scalps. After two matches Price had established himself as a dangerman, only behind the ever-dangerous Shahid Afridi.Considering the fact that New Zealand batsmen have been vulnerable against spin in the sub-continent – as witnessed in the series whitewashes inflicted on them by Bangladesh and India last year – Zimbabwe are bound to try and exercise control through their spinners. In the last year teams have bowled at least 20 overs of spin in a game on average, but Zimbabwe have been an exception: in 2010 Zimbabwe’s fast men bowled about 15 overs on average in a match, with the rest being spin.It was not a surprise then to see John Wright ask specifically for left-arm spinners as net bowlers during the optional training session meant just for the batsmen. “The fact that we have not played them for a long time is probably a little bit of disadvantage for us because we have not seen their bowlers. But what we have seen of them in the last two games we are pretty sure of what we will come up against,” Vettori said.Price was a bit cautious about drumming up Zimbabwe’s chances, but pointed out that the priority would be to try arrest the New Zealand top order from starting in dominating fashion. “I am always itching to bowl, it doesn’t matter if it is the start or the end. It is always fantastic to bowl. It would be a good challenge for me because Brendon McCullum hits the ball a long way. We saw in the IPL he made one of the fastest hundreds. They have got some good players, so it is going to be very difficult for me.”Today New Zealand were in a better frame of mind compared to last week when they were distracted by the earthquake in Christchurch. Wright was a happy man with the return of Dayle Shackel (physiotherapist) and Bryan Stronach (trainer), who had rushed home to attend their affected families.The teams have played two matches apiece with similar results: one win and one loss. Given the format, a team could stand to qualify for the knockouts even if it has two wins; that has added spice to this contest. “It is an important game for us. On where we want to go in the tournament it is a must-win for us. Zimbabwe are actually playing pretty well so it is going to be a difficult game,” Vettori said. He added the batsmen were learning quickly to adapt to the variety of attacks, one of the challenges only a tournament like the World Cup offered. “Australia attacked us with pace and we are going to see a lot of spin in this game. So it is an exciting challenge for us, but one we have to win.”Price said Zimbabwe were more hungry for a second win in a row, after their comprehensive victory against Canada on Monday. But he is not getting carried away. “It is very important for us (win). But you try not to think too much of that because in cricket if you think about the results then you forget about what you are supposed to do and control the areas you are supposed to bowl at,” Don’t be fooled, New Zealand. Price will come at you.

At the centre of a magnificent fielding performance that won New Zealand their quarter-final against South Africa were two moments. The first was an exceptional running catch on the boundary by Jacob Oram that saw the back of an unperturbed and ominous looking Jacques Kallis. The other was Martin Guptill’s run-out of AB de Villiers, a few overs later and just two balls after JP Duminy’s dismissal, in a short passage of play in which was crystallised South Africa’s collapse.Kallis was progressing in typically Kallis-like fashion on 47 when, in the 25th over, he pulled Tim Southee towards deep midwicket. Oram, Man of the Match for his 4 for 39, ran to his left and back towards the boundary rope, and with a little skip, held on to the catch face-high, still running. It looked far more impressive live than on the TV screens. It was the kind of catch that wins a quarter-final.Oram’s only thought when he saw the shot was to run. “The beauty of it was that it wasn’t in the air that long. If it was a real skier where I had 5 or 10 seconds to think about it, I probably would’ve got a little bit scared underneath it.”My only thought was just run, because he did hit it so well. What helped me was just the angle the ball was coming at; with a pull shot like that, it almost curls back into the angle I was running on. So I was running back and across. Thankfully I am 6’6”. I replaced Kane Williamson out there who is about 4’6″; maybe it would have been a one-bounce four if he was out there.”Guptill’s intervention came from midwicket, exploiting a tiny moment’s hesitation between Faff du Plessis and de Villiers. The catch and Guptill’s effort, which ended the most fluent knock of the match, were, Oram said, moments that turned the entire game.Jacob Oram’s running catch of Jacques Kallis started a South African collapse•Getty Images

“My catch [was a turning point], and I’m not just pointing that out because it’s me, but because it broke a partnership that looked like it was starting to build. And the second moment which galvanised us to another level, and put the skids on them, was Martin Guptill running out AB de Villiers. That just seemed to make us all grow a foot taller, and you could see them getting a little worried.”There was a sustained level of excellence in the field throughout the match, from both sides. Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, thought the fielding allowed them to keep the pressure up.”We got a little bit of luck with the Hashim Amla wicket, and there was a great piece of work with Guptill running out de Villiers,” Vettori said. “Those two things, combined with some great bowling and great fielding, allowed us to attack the whole game. The way we bowled and particularly the way we fielded, led by Guptill, probably got us through to the victory.”Another semi-final spot for a side that was stuttering until recently may have surprised others, but not Oram, who believes this is not the end of New Zealand’s run. “Did we ever think we could make it to the semis? Of course we did and we’re not finishing here, hopefully. We didn’t come across here to defeat the minnows in our pool and then lose the quarter-final and go home. Why not go on and win the semi-final and take on the winner of the other semi in Mumbai in a week’s time?”If that eventuality does occur, Oram wouldn’t mind facing Pakistan. “That’s not because we’re scared of India,” he said. “It’s because we’ve played Pakistan in a six-match series at home and we’ve defeated them in Pallekele. So we know them very well, even though they defeated us at home. But if it’s India, bring them on as well.”