Teammates have backed Blackcaps captain Kane Williamson to rediscover his mojo, after another costly slow stay at the crease in their 20-run defeat against England at the T20 World Cup at Brisbane.
While Williamson's 40 runs were the most he's scored at this tournament, they came in as many balls during a sluggish NZ run chase, ultimately putting them under immense scoreboard pressure in pursuit of the 180-run target set for victory.
The master batter couldn't apply a desperately needed accelerator, struggling to get the slower English bowlers away, while the asking rate steadily soared.
Another whirlwind display from Glenn Phillips (62 runs off 36 balls) ensured the Blackcaps stayed somewhat within reach, but when Williamson - who entered in the second over - was caught in the 15th with just three boundaries to his name, the Blackcaps were suddenly staring down the barrel of a run rate of over 12.
Although his departure gave the New Zealanders some impetus, they never recovered.
Through three games at the tournament so far, Williamson has a total of 71 runs off 76 balls, prompting questions about his suitability for the quickfire nature of cricket's shortest format.
None of those innings - which also include 23 against Australia and 8 against Sri Lanka - have come at better than a run per ball.
Phillips says his skipper will inevitably click back into gear.
"Kane's gold at No.3 for us," said Phillips. "He understands situations and I know he had a little bit of a tough day today, but with his experience, the ability to take a game deep and command the middle overs is crucial.
"To be able to have myself, [James] Neesham, Daryl [Mitchell], as well as [Mitchell] Santner doing our role at the end, having Kane doing what he's doing at the moment… we know that he's going to come right at some point, he always does and we can't necessarily judge him by one game.
"England bowled really well to him and they shut down his areas. Next game, he could very easily get 50 off 20 balls as well, so we back him fully."
Jos Buttler led by example for the English batters with 73 runs off 47 balls, while Alex Hales also hit a half-century.
Adil Rashid helped stifle the Kiwi offence, before Chris Woakes (2/33) and Sam Curran (2/26) finished off the job.
Allrounder Santner offered a similar assessment to his teammate, crediting the English bowling attack for Williamson's struggles.
"I think it's the way England bowled," said Santner. "They bowled very well through the middle there... the spinners bowled very well at Kane.
"If you look at the partnership, Glenn was going pretty good and Kane was playing the anchor.
"We got ourselves into a good position five or six out, and I think there was a couple of quality overs from Sam Curran and Chris Woakes that took it away from us in the end, but I think the English spinners did a great job as well.
"They had three. I thought Mo [Moeen Ali] probably could have bowled a couple more overs, after watching that first one. I think they kind of adjusted pretty well to the surface, a lot of cutters into it."
Despite the result, a win against Ireland in their final group match should be enough to see the Blackcaps through to the semi-finals.
New Zealand, England and Australia now each have two wins and a loss, with one game each to play, but the Blackcaps' superior net run rate will likely be the decisive factor. The Australians play Afghanistan in their last game, while England face Sri Lanka.
Santner insists the Blackcaps will not take Ireland lightly, given their surprise win over England earlier in the competition.
"I guess the nature of T20 cricket, if one or two guys step up on the day, they can kind of turn games," he noted.
"We'll do our prep and see what we're going to get against them, and format a plan against a pretty good side."
Join us at 5pm, Friday for live updates of the T20 World Cup clash between the Blackcaps and Ireland
