There have been too many times when in previous matches, they have been left wanting. In their pre-tournament planning, the Kiwis knew that they had to beat one of the stronger Test playing nations in their group to have any chance of qualifying for the `Super Six'. To beat Australia may have been a bonus, but Pakistan or the West Indies still posed formidable threats to New Zealand's chances of being competitive in this tournament. Now they have beaten Australia, two wins in a row means that one more win should be enough to progress through to the next round.

In 73 previous encounters against Australia, New Zealand has won only 20 matches, so they had to put togethera complete performance to match it with one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Geoff Allott got New Zealand off to a perfect start by dismissing the danger man, Mark Waugh, leg before for two. Allott, who with his left arm inswinging deliveries has been very successful in recent times with the new ball, again captured early wickets. When Australia, who had won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch that had uneven bounce, were 32 for 2, the Kiwis had to keep applying the pressure and deny the batsmen runs. Although the run-rate had slowed, Ricky Ponting and Darren Lehmann, who added 94 for the third wicket, looked as though they would get Australia a target of 240, a very good score on that pitch. When Lehmann had been run out for 76 by Dion Nash in his follow through, the Australian mid-order failed to fire.

Even Michael Bevan, the master improviser who has averaged over a hundred in one-day internationals this summer, found it difficult to dominate the tight and accurate bowling of Gavin Larsen, whoagain was miserly in conceding only 26 runs from his ten overs. New Zealand did remarkably well to restrict the Australians to 213 in 50 overs but it was their spirited fielding display backed up by the constant pressure from a bowling attack that frustrated the Australians, that kept New Zealand in the game.

If New Zealand were to win this match, they needed a bright and positive start. At 47 for 4 they were faced with the difficult task of getting back into the game after the Australian new ball bowlers ripped the heart out of their batting. It was almost a ``here we go again'' situation for the Black Caps, who on numerous occasions get one part of the game right, but do not finish the job with a complete all round performance.

However, fortune was smiling on the Kiwis. Enter the man of the moment and Man of the Match, Roger Twose, former Warwickshire professional, who showed all his experience and British bulldog approach. After a shaky start when he was intimidated by the pace and bounce of GlennMcGrath, culminating in being caught off a `no ball', he then played superbly with cuts, pulls, drives and nudges as he went on to dominate all the bowlers. His well compiled 80 (not out), that included ten boundaries, typified the fighting spirit that was required. His partnership with Chris Cairns of 148 for the fifth wicket was crucial.

Cairns strongly dispatched the spin whiz, Shane Warne, into the River Taff on two occasions with huge sixes out of the ground in his innings of 60. For Steve Rixon, the New Zealand coach, this would have been his most satisfying victory. He arrived from Australia three years ago after being very successful as a coach for New South Wales. He knew that it would take time for this New Zealand team to mature and develop. He has been very frustrated on many occasions, but to beat Australia in a World Cup match will be very pleasing as he regarded this as his greatest `test'.

Perhaps now he is starting to see the results from his efforts, but he will be realistic enough tokeep the players focused and say to the team that they cannot afford to get too carried away because they need to keep performing and winning. Perhaps the players will now believe that they can at last have success in a major competition, but all too often have I seen a very accomplished performance been followed by some mediocre ones.