New Zealand's batsmen have been doing little else but facing spinners ahead of their World Cup group A cricket match against Zimbabwe in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Friday.
Opener Martin Guptill today told a media conference his team expected to face a storm of slow bowling from Zimbabwe, who have delivered close to 40 overs of spin in each of their previous contests, a loss to Australia and win over Canada.
To combat the dangers of the slow bowlers, Guptill said the batsmen had been training against the spin pair of skipper Daniel Vettori and Nathan McCullum bowling with the new ball.
New Zealand and Zimbabwe enter the match with identical records of a win and a loss each, and the result of Friday's contest could decide which of them get the upperhand in the battle for a top-four spot and automatic qualification for the quarterfinals.
The top three teams in pool A, with two wins so far, are Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia. Next come New Zealand, who are separated from Zimbabwe because of a superior run rate.
Guptill said he anticipated New Zealand to be at full strength for the match, with Vettori (hamstring), batsman Scott Styris (finger) and seam bowler Kyle Mills (back) looking set to overcome injuries in time to be considered for selection.
"We need to win here. The guys are working towards it. So we want to put up good performances," he said.
New Zealand are coming off a heavy seven-wicket loss to Australia last Friday and Guptill, who fell to Shane Watson for 10 after facing just 25 balls, said he needed to draw on the belief that helped him to a gritty century against Ireland in a warm-up match in Nagpur.
"It is just a matter of me being tough," Guptill said.
"Just making myself kick on and go deep into the innings.
"I did it against Ireland so there is no reason I can't do it against other nations.
"So I am looking to go back to what I did against Ireland and hopefully it works for me."
Guptill, who has scored 49 runs, including a 39 not out, from two matches, felt there was nothing wrong with his batting, and instead it was just a matter of staying strong.
Coach John Wright had not done too much technical work with him.
"It is just a matter of him saying to believe myself and go out and do it really.
"I have been doing it reasonably well but I've just got to do it for longer periods and that is what I am looking forward to doing this week."
