Ireland's death bowling is killing them. The final seven overs of the New Zealand innings on Monday yielded 74 runs. On the same ground a week or so ago, England's Paul Collingwood and Paul Nixon racked up 94 in the final 10 overs, the last five going for 65.
Two games, two potentially winning positions ending in two ultimately heavy defeats.
It was a similar story in Ireland's warm-up game against South Africa before this tournament. Ireland had the Proteas 95 for 8, before number nine bat Andrew Hall took the game away from them.
"We kept them down until around the 43rd over and then they got on top of us," said Trent Johnston after the Kiwi game. "It's one thing we've been working hard on (death bowling), but we didn't execute those plans today."
On Monday, the absence of Andre Botha through injury narrowed Johnston's options, as did Boyd Rankin's onset of cramp toward the end of the England innings. Botha is thought to be okay for the next game against Australia, "If it was our last game (against New Zealand) he would have played. He'll go out and play on one leg if he had to," said Johnston.
"People will say we let them off the hook," says Kevin O'Brien. "But when you get teams like New Zealand seven down they have players like James Franklin coming in who has a double hundred in first class cricket and a Test century to his name."
A New Zealand player backed up O'Brien's view, saying after the game that they expect Franklin to be batting in the top five at the next World Cup.
In this tournament the probable last four of Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa have on the whole displayed a ruthless streak that separates them from the rest. Their approach can be summed up by the maxim, "never give a sucker an even break".
Witness Sri Lanka's blitzkrieg, where the extraordinary slinger Lasith Malinga took four from four to shake the South Africans. And his team-mate Dilhara Fernando showed in the last over against England how a cool head and some streetwise cynicism can get your side over the gain line. His mixture of slower balls, yorkers and an outrageous "dummy" on the last ball, showed you don't have to be lightning quick to carry out the strategy.
The new pitch at the Providence National Stadium has much in common to those found on the subcontinent: slow, low and taking spin as the game goes on.
"The team won't thank me for losing another toss," said Johnston, indicating the importance of batting first on such a surface.
Ireland's spin twins Kyle McCallan and Andrew White took two wickets apiece and almost did for Ireland what their three left arm twirlers did for Bangladesh against South Africa at the weekend.
However, on such a surface, medium pace comes on to the bat. "A few balls didn't go in the right areas, we bowl it every day in the nets, 'bowling death'," says O'Brien.
One of the features of this World Cup has been how the lessons from Twenty20 cricket have bled in to the final 10 overs. Batsmen are becoming ever more innovative, seeking to manipulate themselves in to a position that allows them to swing freely through the line of the ball, making a good length delivery fair game.
O'Brien's 49 contained three sixes, but his run out took any hopes of an Ireland victory with him.
"We were going well and another 10 overs of me playing like I was and would have been back in the game. Last week, TJ (Trent Johnston) was telling me to pick my balls and then hit it without fear. He said if I did that I'd go at a strike rate of more than a 100, which is good enough. So when I went, I went big."
His dismissal was a result of a mix-up between the O'Brien siblings, as a yes call turned to no, leaving Kevin halfway down the wicket. He said there was no stern words for older brother in the dressing-room. "It was unfortunate certainly. But I said, 'look just forget about it'. I remember one day in Bangladesh for the Under-19s I ran a team-mate, Gary Wilson, out in exactly the same circumstances."
"Ireland did exactly what we thought they would do," said Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming. "They put pressure on us and we weren't good enough to get partnerships in the middle. I guess Peter Fulton's 80 held things together and we were able to post a competitive score once we got some hitting at the end. But up until 40 overs we were behind the eight-ball.
"That created some pressure or anxiety on the batsmen going out and Ireland capitalised on that. They played very well. It wasn't until the last four or five overs that we were able to stamp some authority on this game."
The West Indies' hopes of reaching the next stage of the World Cup were virtually ended yesterday when South Africa, led by opener AB de Villlers with 146, scored a comprehensive victory over the host nation.
In Grenada West Indies Won Toss
South Africa Innings
AB de Villiers c C'paul b Collymore 146
G Smith c Ramdin b Collymore 7
J Kallis b Gayle 81
H Gibbs not out 61
M Boucher c & b Bravo 52
S Pollock not out 0
Extras (lb3 w6) 9
Total (4 wkts, 50 overs) ... 356
Fall: 1-21 2-191 3-261 4-347.
Bowling: Collymore 10-0-41-2, D Powell 10-0-78-0, Bradshaw 10-0-73-0, Bravo 7-0-69-1, Pollard 3-0-20-0, Gayle 6-0-42-1, Sarwan 4-0-30-0.
West Indies Innings
C Gayle run out (Prince) 32
S Chanderpaul c Smith b Pollock 4
D Smith c de Villiers b Nel 33
B Lara b Kallis 21
R Sarwan c Pollock b Ntini 92
D Bravo c Gibbs b Pollock 6
K Pollard b Kallis 10
D Ramdin c sub b Smith 4
I Bradshaw c Hall b Smith 20
D Powell not out 48
C Collymore not out 12
Extras (lb4, w2)6
Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) ... 289
Bowling: Pollock 8-0-33-2, Ntini 10-1-57-1, Nel 10-0-54-1, Kallis 8-0-36-2, Hall 9-0-49-0, Smith 5-0-56-2.
South Africa won by 67 runs
