We can win World Cup: Kiwi players

New Zealand sought to put behind their dismal record of losing 14 of their last 17 ODIs.

New Zealand sought to put behind their dismal record of losing 14 of their last 17 ODIs coming into the World Cup,saying that they are still a strong side who can win the coveted trophy.

Key players Brandon McCullum,Ross Taylor,Scott Styris and Martin Guptill admitted their side’s dismal performance bilateral ODI series whitewashes in Bangladesh (0-4) and India (0-5) and 2-3 loss to Pakistan at home — but said they are ready for the World Cup challenge.

They said New Zealand have done better under new coach John Wright who took over the reigns nearly two months ago and his experience in the subcontinental conditions will come handy for them.

“It doesn’t get any bigger than this,a World Cup in the sub-continent. The atmosphere will be electrifying. It’s my favourite place to tour and I have performed well in these conditions. We have been struggling of late but have beaten all the teams before. And we believe we are up to the challenge of doing it again,” all-rounder Scott Styris said at an open media session here.

“Wright’s experience and expertise in India will be valuable for us,” he said.

“John talks a lot about India,and has a lot of friends,especially the groundsmen. He might tell some of them to prepare pitches that might suit us,” Styris said in a lighter vein.

Top-order batsman Ross Taylor said the team had learnt a

Story continues below this ad

lot from their twin tours to Bangladesh and India recently and his side has the wherewithal to lay hands on the World Cup trophy.

“We had some tough six months. But we have learnt a lot from it,and will try as hard as we can to win the World Cup.

When you reach the quarterfinals,it’s just three matches away from winning the World Cup. Personally,the World Cup is big for me. In 2007,my World Cup was cut short by an injury,” Taylor said ahead of their warm-up game against India here on Wednesday.

Explosive batsman Brendon McCullum said his side’s first target is to reach the quarterfinals and from there on anything can happen.

Story continues below this ad

“We are very optimistic about our performance In the sub-continent this time. We are very realistic in our approach to qualify for the quarterfinal and then look at winning the next three games. We have the talent to do that,” he said.

New Zealand were hit by twin controversies just before the World Cup — Jesse Ryder lashing out at a team-mate on twitter and Tim Southee being accused of lewd behaviour on flight for the mega event — but the players said they were not distracted by them.

“Both the issues were blown out of proportion. Obviously,there will be distractions,but we have to focus on the job of getting runs and wickets and winning matches for the team,” Taylor said.