The Blackcaps have moved second in group two of the Twenty20 World Cup in the UAE, after thrashing Namibia by 52 runs in Sharjah.
Batting first and reaching 163/4 from their 20 overs, the Blackcaps restricted Namibia to 111/7 in reply, picking up their third win on the bounce to go ahead of Afghanistan into the second semi-final spot in their group, behind Pakistan.
Victory over Afghanistan on Sunday night (NZ time) will guarantee the Blackcaps a semi-final spot, regardless of other results in the Super 12 stage.
A fine all-round display from Jimmy Neesham, who hammered an unbeaten 35 from 23 balls and took 1/6 with the ball earned man-of-the-match honours, as part of a record breaking partnership with Glenn Phillips (39 not out).
"We talk throughout the innings as a batting unit about what we think is par and we were discussing from the halfway point that anything over 150 would be a really good score," Neesham said after the game.
"When we came out there it was just about trying to get underway, trying to face a few deliveries to get used to the surface, and hoping that we could make it up at the back end there."
After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, the Blackcaps were in trouble on a slow pitch in Sharjah.
Fresh from his heroic 93 against Scotland on Wednesday, Martin Guptill cleared the ropes in the first over, sending spinner Bernard Scholtz for a straight six to start the New Zealand innings. But Guptill was the first Kiwi batter to fall, as he lofted David Wiese to mid-on, out for 18.
Daryl Mitchell didn't fare much better, reaching 19 before he too was caught. Captain Kane Williamson was the only batter in the top four to pass 20, but he too failed to capitalise on his start, as he was out bowled dragging the off-spin of rival skipper Gerhard Erasmus back onto his stumps for 28.
And when Devon Conway was run out by Erasmus for 17, the Blackcaps were in trouble as Namibia's slow bowlers applied pressure through the middle overs.
But Conway's dismissal saw Neesham join Phillips at the crease, where the two lifted the Blackcaps to a more than competitive total.
Despite initially struggling, with the score at 91/4 at the end of 15 overs, Phillips and Neesham launched a ferocious finish. With the slow conditions seeing it difficult to time the ball, both Phillips and Neesham instead looked to clear the ropes, hitting seven sixes between them.
In 26 balls, the pair raised their 50-run stand, before going on to finish with an unbroken partnership of 76 from 36 balls - a new record fifth wicket partnership for New Zealand at a T20 World Cup.
From 91/4, Phillips and Neesham scored 67 runs in the final four overs, and lifted the Blackcaps to 163/4 from their completed innings.
In response, Namibia got off to a good start, adding 47 for the first wicket - their highest opening stand of the World Cup so far. But after rescuing the New Zealand innings with the bat, Neesham did the same with the ball.
With his second delivery, Neesham rattled the stumps of Michael van Lingen for 25, before Mitchell Santner bowled Stephan Baard for 21.
Namibia's 47/0 became 55/3, as Ish Sodhi removed Erasmus for three, courtesy of an outstanding catch from Devon Conway standing up to the stumps.
Former South Africa all-rounder David Wiese threatened to pull off a Namibian heist, taking the attack to Ish Sodhi. That attack saw a nasty incident, as a straight drive from Wiese was deflected into Sodhi's face, seeing the Kiwi leggie unable to finish the game in the field.
Sodhi will undergo concussion protocols but is expected to be cleared to play in the critical tie against Afghanistan.
But once Wiese fell, out lbw to Tim Southee for 16, any hope of an unlikely Namibian victory was all but extinguished.
Thanks to Phillips and Neesham, the Blackcaps hit 64 runs from their last four overs. Namibia meanwhile needed 72 from their last four for victory.
They wouldn't get close, as Namibia lost regular wickets to be left needing a mathematically impossible 58 runs to win from the last over.
Southee finished as the pick of the bowlers, taking an impressive 2/15 from his four overs, backed up by figures of 2/20 from Trent Boult.
Santner also impressed with another economical performance to take 1/20, while Sodhi took 1/22.
The Blackcaps finish their Super 12 stage against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night. Victory will assure Williamson's side a spot in the semi-finals, where they'd likely face England.
Defeat would see net run rate come into the equation, with the Blackcaps' +1.277 inferior to Afghanistan's +1.481.
Join Newshub for live updates of the Blackcaps v Afghanistan from 11pm Sunday.
