| SYDNEY: With a run of opening partnerships of 0 and single figures New Zealand's starts in its VB series to date have been appalling.
The opening partnerships have consisted of various combinations of the pedestrian Richardson, rookie McCullum and the out of form Vincent. The combination of these bizarre selections and poor performances have led to suggestions that New Zealand has been deliberately "sand-bagging" or throwing these wickets away. Exponents of the theory claim that the devastation top order collapses act to inspire over-confidence in opposition bowlers and places the pressure on the middle order that they seem to require in order to perform at their peak. New Zealand captian Stephen Fleming rejected these suggestions emphatically, arguing that "basically they were just playing like crap."  New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming |
| Fleming denies deliberate collapses |
Friday, 01 February 2002 12:00
