Sports
NZ 'slight favourites' against Australia: Steve Waugh
Auckland: Former World Cup-winning captain Steve Waugh Wednesday said New Zealand will be going into Saturday’s World Cup Pool A encounter at the Eden Park here against Australia as “a slight favouritesâ€.
Waugh, who was instrumental in helping Allan Border-led Australia win 1987 World Cup and captained his country to glory in 1999, said Eden Park is a hard place to play in, and given the confidence and form of the Black Caps, it will be a tough test for his countrymen.
“To be brutally honest, New Zealand is probably going in a slight favourite. They’ve really got their confidence up and Auckland is a very hard place to play - it’s just a different kind of ground,†Waugh was quoted as saying by news.com.au.
“We’ve got a fantastic team capable of beating anyone but New Zealand have really got some tremendous momentum.â€
Waugh will attend the game here and has enjoyed the overall standard of cricket in the mega tournament so far - particularly competitive performances from Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“There’s been big gains from those so-called lesser nations. They've really been mixing it up,†he said.