A superb win to start the campaign: Fleming

St Peter's, Antigua, Mar 30 (UNI) New Zealand skipper Stephen Flaming today lavished praise on his players for their superb victory over host West Indies, saying it was a fantastic start to their Super Eight campaign of the Cricket World Cup.

''We came into the super league with two points and now with this win we have got four points and are still to play five more games,'' he told mediapersons after the match.

''Three more wins will take the tally to ten and that I think is a comfortable position for going into the semi-final,'' said the New Zealand captain, adding, ''eight (points) can be iffy, you may manage to squeeze through with those points and better run rate.'' Fleming further said that his side needs to be focused in their coming matches to win as many matches as possible to avoid tense situations.

''We know that we've got two tricky games coming up (one against Bangladesh here on April 2 and then against Ireland on April 9 at Guyana) and so we wanted to start with a win against the Windies.

We just can't take Bangladesh and Ireland lightly, they have moved in defeating much stronger teams (India and Pakistan),'' he said.

He was very pleased with his bowlers performance against Brian Lara's side and said, ''My bowlers did their job in the match, earlier we used to have problem in this area but now I am very happy because they (bowlers) have clicked.'' He also singled out Jacob Oram for special praise saying, ''He (Oram) has made a grand comeback, his batting has been outstanding, but today he bowling extremely well with a fair amount of carry.'' When asked about his special plans in this as well as for coming matches, Flemming said, ''Well we look at succession planning, we've got through the week quite well. We need 10 points, but there could be a logjam as eight may be tricky - although ok with good run-rate.'' ''As the league progresses, it is going to be tight. I am delighted with the number of all-rounders in the side as it gives me so many options, flexibility and lends strength to the batting line up.'' The Kiwi skipper was of the view that on this pitch a score of 230-250 would have been competitive but lauded his bowlers for restricting the host. ''I think on this pitch 230-250 would have been competitive, but we bowled really well and restricted the West Indies.'' Commenting on the fitness condition of the side, Fleming said, ''All my bowlers are fit. The fitness problem of few guys had been sorted out.'' Oflate, New Zealand has been suffering from injury problems with two of their key players already ruled of the mega event, the first being pacer Daryl Tuffey and the latest being opening batsman Lou vincent.

Jacob Oram, who was named the 'Man of the match' for his superb spell of three for 23 in eight overs, said he was thrilled the way he bowled. ''Once I got ball in hand, I realised that if you get it in right places, it would work out well and that exactly happened.'' ''I did know this would be a challenge on this wicket. It was a tongue and cheek comment that got me on... I'd still got for four fingers and a thumb,'' he added.

UNI