4th Quarter-Final: New Zealand v West Indies at Wellington

Former Black Cap great Gavin Larsen is backing New Zealand to roll the West Indies if star all-rounder Chris Gayle is out injured.

The 35-year-old missed the West Indies' win over the UAE in Napier with a chronic back injury, but received a cortisone injection on Wednesday to deal with the pain, while also skipping practise.

Windies captain Darren Sammy insists Gayle will play, and Larsen reckons without the hard-hitting left-hander in the line-up they are a totally different team.

"He's pivotal," says Larsen. "He hasn't been here for the last two days I've been to the practices here at the [Basin Reserve]."

There are five matches remaining in the Cricket World Cup, with New Zealand hoping to play in three of them if things go to plan, and Larsen believes the Windies needs to change their approach if they are to upset the apple cart.

"I think to genuinely beat the Black Caps they are going to have to do something different. Whether that is opening with a spinner, like Bangladesh did against Brendon McCullum just to upset the battle plan, we'll see how it plays out.

"I'm in no doubt that if they go in and just play a stock standard game of cricket, I expect the Black Caps to come out on top. They just have to do something different."

New Zealand take on the West Indies the World Cup quarter-final in Wellington on Saturday.

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Former Black Cap Andre Adams will be in the midst of a family rivalry for the ages today as the Black Caps take on the West Indies in their quarter final for the Cricket World Cup.

Adams, who was born in New Zealand to West Indian parents, says his loyalties lie "firmly" with New Zealand.

However, his parents' loyalties were a different story.

"They'll be supporting the West Indies even though they know that there's a fair chance they'll get beaten," Adams said.

He will be watching the quarter final at home in Warkworth with his father Keith, who is from Bequia, part of the St Vincent and the Grenadines island group.

"[Dad] will be sitting on one couch and I'll be sitting on the other," Adams said.

His dad was a cricket know-it-all, Adams said.

The Cricket World Cup had been "magnificent" so far, the former international bowling allrounder said, and he had attended the Black Caps v Australia nail-biter at Eden Park last month.

"I took my 11-year-old son. It was different being on that side of the boundary, and quite enlightening," he said.

He believed the Black Caps could go all the way and win the World Cup.

"I think it's the first time in our history that we've proved we stand a chance of winning a World Cup.

"There's no reason we can't go all the way."

Excitement ahead of the game has been building in Wellington.

The game will go ahead at the Wellington Regional Stadium under a clear sky, MetService expects, but cloud would increase in the evening.

Northerly winds won't pose a problem, and the high today will be 18C.

Tickets for the game, scheduled to start at 2pm, had sold out and Wellington councillor Jo Coughlan said a full stadium was great news for Wellington, both for the atmosphere and the economic benefits.

The Black Caps v England game had pumped $8 million to $10 million into the city.

"So we are hoping for a similar result this weekend," she said.

In Auckland fans can get among the cricket action by watching the game live at the Fanzone in Britomart.

The Fanzone has attracted crowds for almost all the Cricket World Cup matches it has broadcast live, particularly the Black Caps games.

At 4pm yesterday the Black Caps were favourites at the TAB, paying $1.30 to win the game.

The favourite in the top run-scorer stakes was Brendon McCullum for the Black Caps and Chris Gayle for the West Indies.

It wasn't clear last night whether Gayle would play for the Windies because of a back complaint.

New Zealanders were confident the Black Caps would win the match, with 70 per cent of the money bet at the TAB going towards the Black Caps. NZME.

- NZ Herald

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