WELLINGTON: New Zealand will stick with their crash, bang, wallop brand of cricket in Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against West Indies because it gives them the best chance of winning, captain Brendon McCullum said on Friday.

McCullum, 33, has electrified the tournament with his belligerent attacking style, both with bat in hand and through his tactics in the field, as New Zealand reached the last eight unbeaten.

“I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll still try to play an entertaining and attacking brand of cricket,” McCullum told reporters at the Basin Reserve here on Friday.

“We want to play that brand of cricket. We’ve identified that that is what is going to make us a team which is going to be tough to beat (and) I can’t see that changing.

“Just because there’s pressure on a game, it shouldn’t take you away from what’s your best opportunity to win.”

McCullum’s batting -- three half-centuries at a strike rate of 187.59 -- has captured public’s imagination. Most notably for New Zealand’s chances of advancing to a semi-final against South Africa, his highest score of 25-ball 77 came against England at Wellington Regional Stadium.

“The cricket we have played has... made people around the world sit up and take notice,” he added. “That style of cricket that we’re playing has obviously served us well and if things don’t always go according to plan then you obviously have to move into plan ‘B’.

“But I think we’ve got the players, not just skill-wise but also the characters within the group that can quickly adjust to that.”

Meanwhile, West Indies captain Jason Holder remained coy on whether injured star batsman Chris Gayle will play in the quarter-final.

Gayle trained for the first time this week on Friday morning, batting in the nets two days after receiving an injection in his lower back.

The injury forced him out of the West Indies’ six-wicket win over the UAE on Sunday.

Holder said Gayle would face a late fitness test for Saturday’s quarter-final, the winners of which will face a rampant South Africa in the semi-finals.

“He’s had an injection and a scan. The scan didn’t show anything major, so we’ll just see how he pulls up today and make a decision tomorrow morning,” the skipper said.

Gayle is seen as crucial to the West Indies’ chances of progressing into the last four. But Holder insisted his team could win even without Gayle, pointing to the impressive 55 scored by Johnson Charles when he stepped in against the UAE.

“Obviously, Gayle has been a very good player for us over the years but we’ve shown we’ve got people to fit the bill,” he said. “Johnson came in the last game and got a half-century and looked the part. So we’ve got people to fill his boots but obviously having Chris there is a plus for us.”

Meanwhile, Holder acknowledged playing the undefeated New Zealanders in front of their home fans was a different prospect to facing the UAE, saying it was time to “go big or go home”.

With the West Indies relishing their underdog status, Holder said he was looking for an aggressive but disciplined performance against McCullum’s men.

“We’re just going out all guns blazing tomorrow and giving it our all. New Zealand can be beaten. We beat them in the last series when we played them and no doubt we will be looking to beat them tomorrow,” Holder stated.

Teams (from):

NEW ZEALAND: Brendon McCullum (captain), Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson, Daniel Vettori, Luke Ronchi, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan.

WEST INDIES: Jason Holder (captain), Marlon Samuels, Sulieman Benn, Johnson Charles, Jonathan Carter, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Nikita Miller, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2015

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