BLOEMFONTEIN (South Africa), Feb 10: New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said his team’s defeat by Sri Lanka on Monday might force a change of mind about boycotting their World Cup Group ‘B’ match in Kenya.

Fleming said the New Zealand players were still confident their cricket board would make the right decision and would not try to influence them either way, even if it cost the team a place in the next stage of the tournament.

“The situation with Kenya is that the process is still underway,” Fleming said after his team’s 47-run loss.

“It’s an obvious thing to look at as the side loses and more pressure goes on...but we trust that the right decision will be made by New Zealand Cricket and we’ve got total confidence in them.”

New Zealand’s defeat by Sri Lanka means they will probably have to win each of their four remaining pool games to make the Super Six phase if, as indicated, they forfeit the match in Kenya because of security concerns.

The game in Nairobi is due to be played on Feb 21 but a final decision on whether it will be played or possibly switched to South Africa is still pending.

World Cup executive director Ali Bacher said on Monday that he still hoped New Zealand could be persuaded to play in Kenya.

“It’s pretty much a day by day development,” Fleming said, admitting his team’s defeat may have clouded the issue.”—Reuters