Fleming: ''It's important to show them respect'

Steve Tikolo slams a boundary during his side's defeat of Canada © Getty Images

New Zealand are rarely a side to capture the headlines, and that is exactly as Stephen Fleming, their captain, would like to keep it as they prepare for Tuesday's match against Kenya at Beaujesour - a game that, if victorious, will result in their qualification for the Super Eight leg of the competition.

All the talk in St Lucia has been of England's inebriated boating antics, a saga that has deflected from the composed six-wicket victory with which New Zealand opened their campaign on Thursday. For the Kiwis, however, tomorrow's game promises to be a case of once bitten, twice shy. Having succumbed by two wickets to the Bangladeshis in their opening warm-up match in Barbados last week, they will doubtless be on their guard against a team that is indisputably the best of the rest.

"It's important to show them a lot of respect and pay a lot of attention to detail," said Fleming, with reference to this week's seismic victories by Bangladesh and Ireland. "I wouldn't say there was disrespect from India and Pakistan but if you look at some of their shots you'd question how much hard work they wanted to do.

"That's something we've really focused on since losing to Bangladesh," added Fleming. "If we do the hard work, we should be able to beat these sides ranked lower than us. The key is not changing your approach - in the past maybe you could got away with it against minnows but they now have the quality of players that can hurt you."

Fleming's side were instrumental in Kenya's march to the semi-finals of the last World Cup in 2003. It was their refusal to play in Nairobi for security reasons that earned Kenya the precious extra points that propelled them into the Super Sixes. And following England's unconvincing display against the group outsiders, Canada, on Sunday, Kenya's captain, Steve Tikolo, felt his side would not necessarily be makeweights in this particular tournament either. "It shows it can be done," he said of the week's earlier upsets.

Tikolo is confident of playing a full part in the match despite battling a calf problem. His lower right leg was strapped during training and, as the rest of his team-mates walked off the field, he stayed on for some extra stretching exercises. "It's alright," he said. "I had a muscle pull when I was bowling my second over against Canada. I should be okay."

The only selection issue on Fleming's mind was whether to go in with two spinners or an extra seamer. The Daniel Vettori-Jeetan Patel axis was less effective against England that their captain had anticipated, and with Mark Gillespie still struggling with a shoulder problem, the final berth could belong to Daryl Tuffey or Michael Mason.

New Zealand (probable) 1 Stephen Fleming (capt), 2 Lou Vincent, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Craig McMillan, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 James Franklin, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Daryl Tuffey.

Kenya (probable) 1 Maurice Ouma (wk), 2 David Obuya, 3 Ravi Shah, 4 Steve Tikolo (capt), 5 Tanmay Mishra, 6 Collins Obuya, 7 Thomas Odoyo, 8 Jimmy Kamande, 9 Nehemiah Odhiambo, 10 Peter Ongondo, 11 Hiren Varaiya.