All-rounder Chris Cairns will be asked to bowl for the first time in a year to rescue New Zealand’s World Cup campaign against West Indies on Thursday. Cairns has not bowled in one-day matches because of a series of niggling injuries, but with the Kiwis needing to win to keep their tournament hopes alive, he will turn his arm over in theGroup B match.“We’re very pleased with the way he got through practice this morning and that will create an option for me tomorrow,” New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming told a news conference on Wednesday. “It’ll be a limited option but it’s a very positive sign for us.”Fleming said it was unlikely that Cairns, who played as a specialist batsman in New Zealand’s 47-run loss to Sri Lanka on Monday, would bowl his full 10 overs. “I don’t want to give you an exact figure because it will obviously give away what we’re planning to do but it won’t be 10 overs,” Fleming said.“It will be a limited workload and how far we can take that will be something we’ll work through tomorrow.” Fleming said the availability of Cairns as an extra bowler and the return of left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori at St. George’s Park would give New Zealand a range of options they did not have against Sri Lanka.“It fixes the balance of the side and we’re now able to play a different combination batting or bowling.and that’s a luxury for any captain,” Fleming said. “Traditionally, it’s a low and slow wicket here and we’ve got to go with a side with those figures and statistics in mind.”Vettori was not selected to play Sri Lanka, a decision Fleming was left to rue as the Bloemfontein pitch failed to offer any assistance to the fast bowlers. He will, however, face a rampant West Indies side still celebrating their surprise opening win over South Africa.With the Kiwis planning to forfeit their pool game in Kenya because of security concerns, another loss could end their hopes of progressing in the tournament. “It was a luxury to have one game up our sleeve to lose but now we’ve lost that. It’s pretty clear cut that we’ve got to win these following games,” Fleming said. “We’ve got a line in the sand, we’re very disappointed with the result in the first game and that gives you definite (things) to work on, from the strategy, which was at fault in some areas in the last game, through to the players’ responsibilities.”Fleming said the Sri Lanka defeat had partly been the result of the players putting too much pressure on themselves. “There’s a lot of anxiety in the side but that’s going to come about with every game and I think the team that deals with that the best is obviously going to progress further down the cup than others,” he said. (Reuters)
