Ready for the Kiwis
Tuesday, 5 February, 2002

South African batsman and BBC Sport Online columnist Neil McKenzie looks forward to the
best-of-three VB Series final against New Zealand.

Last weekend in Perth proved to be a bonanza for us as we qualified for the finals, which start
on Wednesday at the MCG.

We beat New Zealand with the extra bonus point on Friday night to top the group, and
although we lost to the Aussies on Sunday, we prevented them from gaining the extra point
that would have meant they too would have qualified.

In truth, we were prepared to play any team in the finals, but from a psychological point of
view, one could say that we prefer to play the Kiwis.

We have a better head-to-head record against them in this VB series (3-1), not to mention
our overall ODI dominance against them over the past few years.

But as you know in the world of professional sport, all of this counts for jack if you don't go
out there on the day and produce the goods.

This is the attitude we need to take into the finals

There has been a hell of a lot of stuff written about the controversial bonus point system that
saw the Aussies ejected from the finals.

Quite frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about.

We all played by the rules. We did what was needed to make the finals, as did the Kiwis
against us and it was unfortunate that the Aussies found themselves on the end of a bit of
match manipulation in the final two games.

But they were their rules anyway!

That would not have happened had they played more consistent cricket throughout the
tournament and made qualifying later on a bit easier for themselves, but such is the nature of
the one-day set up.

As for us, the thoughts in the camp are very positive with everyone knowing we haven't set
the one-day game on fire as yet but the feeling is that we're going to peak at the right time
and thus, hopefully take the VB trophy home with us.

In preparation for the first of the three finals, we had our customary touch rugby warm-up
before nets to top up the skill levels and even Lance Klusener has got among the tries feast
as the tour comes to an end.

There's approximately six days, 10 hours, 39 minutes and 59 seconds to go as I write this, but
who's counting 39 seconds?

This is Neil McKenzie in Melbourne for BBC Sport Online