Centurion, Mar 14: After his team's demolition by the Indian pacemen, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming was today forced to put them on par with the Australian bowling attack. "I am impressed with your left-armers. They are very handy," said Fleming whose side is all but out of contention of the World Cup after the 7-wicket thrashing they received from India today. "Your fifth bowler is a worry but it's the same with Australia. At the moment the main bowlers are providing Sourav Ganguly with some good options," he said and then went about praising left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra. "Nehra in particular is bowling very well and he has good rhythm about him. He is deceptively skiddy and quick," Fleming said about the bowler who was responsible for putting the brakes on New Zealand's scoring and bringing the batsmen under pressure. "He was outstanding today. Zaheer Khan got the wickets but I thought Nehra bowled a fantastic spell."

New Zealand's fate in the World Cup now hangs on the result of tomorrow's match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. If Sri Lanka win, New Zealand are out of the competition.

Fleming conceded his side had never looked like a serious contender in the tournament.

"We never got the feeling we were in a rhythm to win the World Cup. It's a tough campaign and we were too stuttering. We never really got into the stride," he said.

Bureau Report