JOHANNESBURG, Feb 17: New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said his side now believed they could win the World Cup after beating South Africa in Group ‘B’ on Sunday.

“If you’d asked me that this morning there would have been a big sigh and an apprehensive or tentative yes,” he said after the nine-wicket win at the Wanderers.

But he added: “This team is now believing it can win the World Cup.

“This has done a lot of good for us. You have to get two good wins and then put away the so-called minnows of your group to go through and I think we might have done enough (to qualify for the Super Six).”

Fleming scored a match-winning 134 not out on Sunday as New Zealand, who needed to win after refusing to play Kenya in Nairobi on security grounds, won with 13 balls to spare after chasing a rain-revised total of 226.

“It is the best of my career. I say that because there was a lot on the line,” he added.

“With the Kenya decision and the must-win situation in the last two games I really felt that as captain I had to make a mark at a World Cup.

“I haven’t had great performances at a World Cup in the past and this was my day.”—Reuters