Daniel Vettori. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Check back this afternoon on nzherald.co.nz for ball by ball live scoring of the crucial one day game against England.
The national sport is poised to begin its 10-month run at a ground near you, and Daniel Vettori knows there's only one thing for it.
"All we can do is win," he said yesterday as the sports vie for public attention and as New Zealand look to wrap
up their ODI series against England at Eden Park today.
Having cleaned out England with plenty to spare in the first two games, momentum is all important. New Zealand have it and offspinner Jeetan Patel's tip after game one in Wellington that New Zealand could go on to make it a 5-0 sweep is not looking the bold prediction it seemed at the time.
"I couldn't ask for too much more from the previous two games and we've set ourselves up with a huge chance of winning the series. We really want to do it in this game," Vettori said.
New Zealand's success has been based round diligent bowling, which has stuck to detailed planning, backed by top class fielding and batting which has treated England's bowling with disdain.
The last fortnight has been marked by a rapid swing in fortunes. England dominated the Twenty20 series just as emphatically as New Zealand have done the longer version of the short game .
New Zealand will guard against a pendulum-like swing today.
They know there are players in England's squad who have yet to fire. Kevin Pietersen, among the game's was damaging batsmen, is one of them.
Captain Paul Collingwood and No 3 batsman Ian Bell are two others. This is not a time for New Zealand to lift their foot from England's throat.
"The ball is in their court to respond - and it's in our court to respond to that response," Vettori said, sounding as though he was on a tennis court.
If there is a concern it might be the lack of action the middle order batsmen have seen.
Openers Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum kept them unemployed in Hamilton on Tuesday night as they compiled New Zealand's highest partnership for any wicket against England.
The likes of Jamie How, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor and Peter Fulton have had to make do with nets. "When the time comes hopefully they've still got a bit of batting rhythm," Vettori said.
* NZ V ENGLAND
Eden Park, 2pm today
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Peter Fulton, Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills, Paul Hitchcock, Jeetan Patel, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin.
England: Paul Collingwood (c), Alastair Cook, Phil Mustard, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Luke Wright, Ravi Bopara, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Tim Ambrose.
