Black Caps back

Black Caps batting coach Craig McMillan has leapt to the defence of struggling duo Martin Guptill and Tom Latham, averting any talk of a change to a misfiring topfive against England.

The New Zealand squad, families and support staff (44 in total) piled onto the northbound train to Newcastle yesterday after their comprehensive 86-run loss to Australia at Lord’s.

Despite successive defeats to Pakistan and Australia, the Black Caps are near certain World Cup semifinalists, win or lose against England at Chester-le-Street tomorrow (9.30pm NZ time).

Clearly victory against a resurgent England, fresh off a 31-run win over India, will be preferable to regain some lost momentum and confidence, bounce the hosts out of their own tournament and repair some cracks in the Black Caps’ campaign.

It would also mean a likely third-place finish and an Edgbaston semifinal against India next week, instead of a rematch against a rampant Australia at Old Trafford if they lose and sneak in fourth on net run rate.

To topple England they need more from batsmen other than Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, most notably No 5 Latham, who averages 8.2 from six cup innings.

Backup wicketkeeper Tom Blundell shone with the bat in the warmup matches as Latham’s broken finger mended, but McMillan rejected any thought that the senior man’s spot was in danger.

‘‘I’ve thrown a lot of balls at Tom over the last few days and we’ve had a lot of conversations. Same with Martin [Guptill], he’s done a lot of work. Sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn’t,’’ McMillan said.

‘‘We know we’ve got two world class players and at their best they’re going to help the team win games. We’re backing them, there’s still some cricket to be played and they will come to the fore.’’

Guptill started with 73 not out against Sri Lanka as he and Colin Munro plundered a rare century stand and New Zealand’s net run rate got a flying start.

Since then Guptill has scored 85 runs from six innings with a few starts, and dismissals including an inside edge onto the thigh pad, and hit wicket when he trod on his stumps.

Said McMillan: ‘‘Guptill averages over 42 in ODI cricket and was leading runscorer at the last World Cup. One thing about tournament play is you have fluctuations in form throughout and you’ve got to ride with that.

‘‘Obviously [Guptill and Latham] are short on runs but we’re excited by the fact that we haven’t quite clicked as a batting group yet. But we’re still at this point. At the start of the tournament the goal was to get to the semifinals because then anything can happen.’’

Munro was dropped for Australia and Henry Nicholls took his place in a repeat of the home summer against India. In his first one-day international innings since February 20, Nicholls (8 off 20 balls) hit two sweetly timed boundaries off Mitchell Starc before he gloved a