With two wins and two defeats from their opening four games of the Cricket World Cup, the White Ferns concede they're approaching 'must-win' territory for the rest of the tournament.
Their huge 141-run defeat to Australia at Wellington did the NZ women no favours in their quest for a first World Cup title in 22 years, leaving them fourth on the table, with three games left to play.
A fourth-placed finish is enough to secure a semi-final place, but with three tough fixtures against South Africa, England and Pakistan still to play, the White Ferns may have to qualify by net run rate or needing favours from elsewhere.
Their heavy defeat leaves New Zealand's net run rate at -0.257, inferior to both India (+1.333) and South Africa (+0.380), which could count against them, if that was to determine the semi-finalists.
But assistant coach Jacob Oram says winning their final three pool games should make the equation simpler for his side.
"I hope it's not [decided by] net run rate following today's fixture," Oram says. "After that first-up loss to West Indies, we knew we had really tough games to come... like today, like India the other day that we came out on top, like South Africa in 3-4 days' time, like England next weekend at Eden Park.
"There are some huge games coming up and it's getting to the point of 'must-win'. We are midway through our games for the tournament.
"It's not an ideal position to know that every game is potentially - and that's the key word - must-win, but it's where we find ourselves [after] losing two out of four.
"It's just reality. We've got to suck it up and make sure we're able to win the rest of the games, so that we do take that run rate out of contention and get through on points from winning games."
Former Blackcaps all-rounder Oram doesn't think the pressure of playing a World Cup at home is impacting the players, putting their struggles down to a difficult travel schedule.
New Zealand's only previous Cricket World Cup success - for men or women - was the White Ferns' 2000 victory.
Naturally, those same expectations could weigh heavily on the class of 2022, but Oram says the team are embracing their contenders tag in front of home crowds.
"No chance of that happening," Oram says of pressure impacting the team. "It's a tough schedule, we've been up and down the country, and so it should be.
"We're the host country playing in all our host cities. We want to get around the country and play in every port in front of as many fans, COVID-reduced, as we can.
"We're up and down the country, flights every third day, bags out here and there, but we can't complain.
"We knew about the schedule six months, 12 months ago and it is what it is. We knew who were playing and where, so we were able to plan and predict what was going to happen.
"We knew the conditions - it was a good and a bad thing.
"In terms of the pressure of the World Cup, only the players can answer that. I played in a few myself and from what I now know, from a player to a coach, is that it actually doesn't matter what the hell a coach or support staff member says.
"It's about what's going on between the ears of that player. That sort of 'pressure' question is for players only and that's where you get the honest answers."
The White Ferns continue their World Cup campaign on Thursday, facing currently unbeaten South Africa at Hamilton's Seddon Park.
Join us for live updates of the White Ferns v South Africa from 2pm Thursday.
