MELBOURNE (AFP)
Allrounder Chris Cairns and fast bowler Shane Bond return to strengthen New Zealand for the opening game of the VB Series finals against South Africa at the MCG on Wednesday (Feb 6).

The Kiwis have beaten the Proteas only once in their last 16 one-day matches, but Cairns believed the Black Caps had a real chance of pulling off an upset. "Finals situations bring out the most amazing results - anything can happen," he said.

Cairns did not train on Monday as he rested the back problem that kept him out of Friday's loss to South Africa at Perth but he had little doubt he would play - and bowl. "I'm a 90 percent chance of playing at this stage, just got to get the other 10 percent right tomorrow and have a bowl - I should be fine," said Cairns, who had an injection in Perth to help his back.

Cairns played last week as a batsman only while Bond, New Zealand's main strike bowler, skipped Friday's match with a groin strain. "He has been the find of the tour for us and the majority of our success can be attributed to him," Cairns said. "What he's given us throughout this series is firepower and the ability to take wickets."

New Zealand beat Australia three times out of four in the round-robin series but have been unable to restrict South Africa's late onslaughts from the likes of Shaun Pollock and Jonty Rhodes.

Team manager Jeff Crowe said they were still trying to develop a bowler, apart from Cairns, who could be relied upon to perform well in the final overs. "You can't say we're overly experienced at bowling in the death - we don't have a natural person at this point," Crowe said. "It's a matter of just working away and finding the accuracy you need."

Crowe praised captain Stephen Fleming for New Zealand's recent revival. "I sense when we really started to change and up the ante was last year in New Zealand, in between the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan," Crowe said. "Stephen Fleming has been the catalyst for all this, he took on a new role and went from phase one of his captaincy career to stage two.

"He took on a stronger and more powerful position with his role - he really drives the ship, he's the person who really tells the team what we need to do."

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd