New Zealand v Zimbabwe, Headingley, 6 June 1999

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Why you should watch: These are two teams on their way up, and victory here would see Zimbabwe on the verge of greatness. Some intense cricket is guaranteed.

New Zealand player to watch: Chris Harris

Zimbabwe player to watch: Neil Johnson

Listen on the stump mike for: A bit of aggro. The teams get on well off the field, but on it the rivalry is intense.

Neutrals may care to enjoy: The gritty all-round skills, including brilliant fielding, of ‘Sir Harry’ against his favourite opponents. The dashing all-round feats of Johnson. The pace of Henry Olonga something always happens.

Schadenfreude potential: Watching Heath Streak increase his tally of wides.

Old lags: Gavin Larsen (36).

Young pups: Henry Olonga (22), Craig McMillan (22), Daniel Vettori (20).

CricInfo prediction: Zimbabwe victory if their nerve holds!

Confidence has determined Zimbabwe’s progress to a remarkable extent in this tournament. Lack of it when it really mattered led to feeble performances against Sri Lanka and England; the knowledge that they had nothing to lose enabled them to come out with all guns blazing and destroy the mighty South African juggernaut.

Zimbabwean confidence, or lack of it, will probably determine the outcome of this match. On paper, they should overcome a New Zealand team suffering from a serious batting crisis. In practice, it remains to be seen whether their South African victory has given them the self-belief to survive in a situation new to them all.

Their only previous excursion beyond the first round of any one-day tournament was in Sharjah during the last overseas season, when in a triangular series they twice beat an incompetent Sri Lankan team to reach the final against India. That final was a virtually unmitigated disaster, as the batsmen were overcome by the occasion and the bowlers were massacred by yet another Tendulkar century. The Super Six of the World Cup is a daunting prospect, even though the team has probably three chances of reaching the semi-finals. It could be too much for them first time round.

Neither team has set the tournament alight with its batting. Roger Twose has done great things for his adopted country, but Nathan Astle, Matt Horne and Stephen Fleming are badly out of form, while Craig McMillan has been consistent but hardly significant. Zimbabwe have depended very much on the Flower brothers, the most likely to overcome the increase in pressure, while Neil Johnson has played two good innings in five games. The others, though, have been disappointing, with Alistair Campbell, Murray Goodwin and Guy Whittall giving only occasional glimpses of their best form.

In bowling, Zimbabwe appear to have the greater depth, although Geoff Allott has performed remarkably in taking 15 wickets at a cost of just over 12 each, and Chris Harris has both restrained and dismissed in his own inimitable way. For Zimbabwe Johnson has relished the task of opening the bowling, while Streak has also chipped in with valuable wickets, despite spraying wides all over the place. Apart from Brandes, the other bowlers have all performed acceptably when on line, and they possess what is a big advantage against New Zealand in two leg-spinners. Paul Strang and Adam Huckle may both play should conditions look the slightest bit encouraging. Not that Headingley is well known as a wrist-spinner’s happy hunting ground.

Both sides are quite good in the field, although by their own standards Zimbabwe have rarely been close to their best form this tournament.

The man Zimbabwe will watch with the greatest respect is all-rounder Chris Harris, who has a remarkable record of success against them, quite outshining the more famous Chris Cairns. When New Zealand visited almost two years ago, they would have surely lost both the Test and one-day series had not Harris chipped in with vital innings and useful bowling performances at critical stages. And by the end of the tour many Zimbabweans were still taking chances with his throwing arm and regretting it. In their most recent encounter, in the Mini World Cup in Bangladesh last year, Harris sunk Zimbabwe yet again with a burst of hitting which took his team to a thrilling victory after being on the verge of defeat. If Dave Houghton’s acute cricketing brain has discovered a weakness in Harris’s cricket, his team have certainly been unable to exploit it so far.

The explosive all-round power of Cairns could also have much to do with New Zealand’s prospects. He has not been quite at his dominant best so far, but he is rarely out of the headlines for long, and he is the focal point of New Zealand’s success. It should be an exciting, well-contested match, and quite possibly somebody who has done little in the tournament so far may play a crucial part in it.