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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from South Africa

BLOEMFONTEIN, Tuesday - New Zealand's 47-run loss to Sri Lanka in their opening Group B match of the World Cup has made them rethink of playing in Kenya.

"It is an obvious thing to look at as the side loses and the pressure piles on," said New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming after yesterday's loss.

"The team's current position in the World Cup and the current situation in Kenya has made us rethink. I trust the right decision will be made," he said.

Fleming admitted they had misjudged the pace of the Goodyear Park pitch and gone into the match without their main spinner Daniel Vettori.

"The pitch played well throughout, but from our point of view it was the lack of pace that was disappointing. We misjudged the pace of the pitch," said Fleming.

"By the first over and a half we got the feeling what the wicket was going to be. It wasn't going to suit particularly our tactics for the day. That didn't mean that we still can't bowl them out and restrict them to a score that is substantial.

"We thought there would be more pace in the wicket. Watching Sri Lanka playing Australia in Sydney, we thought we could expose them with our pace and bounce. We were hoping to make early inroads, and particularly (Sanath) Jayasuriya's wicket. If we could do that, we thought we'd give ourselves a target we thought we could manage. The results on this ground has been such that teams batting second have always won. So we didn't think it would be a disadvantage bowling first. We didn't get the advantage we hoped for at the start.

"The pitch suited Sri Lanka a little bit more. They play very well on wickets that don't have a great deal of pace and bounce. Australian wickets have a great deal of pace and bounce which can often be the undoing of sides from the subcontinent. When there is no such pace, the Sri Lankans are a very effective unit and we saw that today (Monday). They played very well in conditions that are made with them," he said.

Fleming said that Jayasuriya's century put them under pressure and with runs on the board the spinners played a big part.

"We are not good at playing spin bowling as we should be. But Sri Lanka have got a very good side. They've got key players and key areas to perform well, day in and day out," said Fleming.

He said a catch behind the wicket offered by Jayasuriya which was turned down by the umpire could have changed the game. But it was not to be and Sri Lanka made the most of it. The New Zealand captain said that he was extremely disappointed with the result and they now have a tough task ahead of them trying to beat West Indies and South Africa in their next two games of the competition.

"We built up a long time for this first game and we would have loved to have won it. It now certainly makes it a lot tougher. The next two games we have are extremely tough ones. We have to bounce back well and play positive cricket," said Fleming.

He said although they beat India at home, it was certainly not a preparation for what they were going to face in South Africa.

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