Cricket: Sky's the limit for stand-in captain Vettori

Daniel Vettori

CHRISTCHURCH - John Bracewell was singing the praises of stand-in captain Daniel Vettori last night, while at the same time playing down any suggestions of a more permanent job offer.

The no-nonsense coach singled out Vettori's captaincy effort as one of the highlights of New Zealand's seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Queenstown on Saturday, describing it as his most influential performance at the helm so far.

Vettori pulled all the strings when Sri Lanka batted first in the opening one-dayer, juggling his bowlers and using his pacemen in a far more attacking role, as the Sri Lankans collapsed for 164 in the 48th over.

In reply, New Zealand steamed to a somewhat anti-climactic win, courtesy of rookie batsmen Jamie How and Peter Fulton, whose half-centuries vindicated Bracewell's decision to look for new blood before the end of the season.

How and Fulton were the talk of the town after adding 95 for the third wicket, shading the deeds of pace bowlers Shane Bond, Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram, who rocked Sri Lanka from the outset and never allowed the innings to gain momentum.

But Vettori's seventh outing as stand-in skipper for Stephen Fleming was no less outstanding, prompting Bracewell to eulogise afterwards about the spin-bowler's rapid development, and his suitability for leadership.

Vettori will remain as New Zealand's caretaker captain in tomorrow's second one-dayer at Jade Stadium, following confirmation that Fleming - who missed the first game to be at the birth of his daughter - will remain on paternity leave for another couple of days.

Fleming will apparently play for Wellington in the State Shield competition on Wednesday and will re-assemble with New Zealand in time for Friday's third one-dayer at the Cake Tin.

"You can see that Dan's captaincy is developing," Bracewell said yesterday. "When you're assessing leadership there's always a lot of variables involved, like the form of your own side and the standard of the opposition.

"But I thought that, at Queenstown in particular, he worked his bowling changes very well and helped draw a far greater strike-rate potential from his attack.

"He brought his bowlers in and out, rotated them intelligently and didn't allow the Sri Lankan batsmen to settle in against any one in particular.

"Each time he brought one of them back he did so with the express purpose of trying to take a wicket, and I think that's an important development on what we'd been doing against Australia. Dan had more options up his sleeve this time and he used them very well. He's advancing really nicely."

Fleming has been the New Zealand skipper since succeeding Lee Germon in 1997 but there are now suggestions that the eight-year tenure has created an element of predictability within the side, and that Vettori's leadership could help freshen the environment.

For all that, Bracewell's eyes almost glazed over when he was asked if Fleming was still a shoo-in as captain for next year's World Cup in the West Indies, saying he was not a clairvoyant and that much water would flow under the bridge before then.

"The World Cup's a long way away but what we do want to do is develop some competitive options, because it's not cut and dried that anyone will make the World Cup at this stage, particularly in terms of fitness," he said.

"But if we haven't got an option in terms of captaincy over there, then I think we're being silly.

As for the Sri Lankans, Bracewell suspected that his side had caught the tourists on the hop and that they'd be a far greater threat tomorrow.

"We continued some momentum from the Australian series but, having said that, Sri Lanka had only just arrived. They didn't have any warm-up games under their belt and we were probably able to take advantage of that.

"I'd expect them to be a different proposition at Jade, very much so.

They would have adjusted a bit more to our conditions and pitches, and I think once they get used to the extra bounce over here they'll be a very competitive side."