BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming says his team’s defeat by Sri Lanka might force a change of mind about boycotting their World Cup Group B match in Kenya.

Fleming said the New Zealand players were still confident their cricket board would make the right decision and would not try to influence them either way, even if it cost the team a place in the next stage of the tournament.

“The situation with Kenya is that the process is still underway,” Fleming said after his team’s 47-run loss on Monday.

New Zealand’s World Cup hopes were left in tatters as they went down by 47 runs in their opening Pool B game against Sri Lanka at Goodyear Park here today.

The Black Caps now face a major uphill battle to qualify for the Super Sixes, especially after refusing to honour their fixture against Kenya in Nairobi and will have to win their next two big games against the West Indies and South Africa respectively to be sure of a place in the next round of the tournament.

Scott Styris’ battling 141 failed to prevent New Zealand from being beaten by Sri Lanka in their Pool B World Cup match in Bloemfontein.

The Kiwis were all out for 225 in the 46th over in reply to Sri Lanka’s 50-over total of 272 for seven.

Styris was the last man out when he was caught by Chaminda Vaas off Russel Arnold.

Sri Lanka had struck early to leave New Zealand at a desperate 15 for three after six overs in their reply.

Chris Cairns and Styris steadied the innings for a while but Arnold, who finished with three for 47, helped to seal victory for Sri Lanka.