New Zealand’s pace bowling battery looked spectacular but it was the spin craft of Daniel Vettori which draw most praise following their World Cup-opening defeat of Sri Lanka.
The 36-year-old left-armer proved his worth once again on Saturday with miserly figures of 2-34 off 10 overs.
He used guile and accuracy to put a chokehold on Sri Lanka’s pursuit of 332 after they had made a decent start at Hagley Oval.
Vettori broke a promising opening stand of 67, luring Tillakaratne Dilshan (24) into a simple caught-and-bowled dismissal.
He returned to remove veteran Mahela Jayawardene for a four-ball duck, sparking Sri Lanka’s slide into oblivion.
Allrounder Corey Anderson said Vettori was deliberately brought back for a second spell when the accomplished Jayawardene arrived at the crease.
“Dan’s got him out numerous times and it obviously paid off today again,” he said.
“He’s just a clever bowler. It’s one of those things where you’d love him to bowl more than 10, especially on that wicket, but you can’t.”
Vettori’s economy rate routinely sets up other bowlers for wickets, Anderson says.
Seamers Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Adam Milne and Anderson himself bagged two wickets each but they owed plenty to the former skipper.
“Dan’s smart and he knows how to get guys out or how to put them on the back foot so they have to try and take apart other bowlers.
“It is pretty difficult to do when Tim, Trent and Milney are firing like they are.”
Casper
Guest
The case for Dan Vettori should be 'would he get picked in the Australian side if available' from a form and personality point of view. In my opinion, he would have been a walk up starter for 6 or 7 years between 2006-2013. Appears to be a very amiable person, good sense of humor, always puts in when fielding, can hold a bat, bowls with guile, great leader and likes a beer. Those glasses give him the studious look & disguise his competitive nature. I'd have him but not Hadlee, mainly on personality & not ability. Picking Hadlee would be like asking Kevin Pietersen if he wanted to play for Australia. Vettori has been a great asset to the Brisbane Heat in T20 when available although probably on the down-slide in his career. Maybe he's the guy to take on the Qld Bulls coaching role after Stewie Law got shafted.
Clark
Guest
Oh how great would it be if McCullum brought out the scoop again like he did against Shaun Tait from a few years ago, been waiting for us to play Australia for a very very long time. Bring back the Chappell Hadlee series for crying out loud!
Bobbo7
Guest
Should be a ripper. While I think NZ are very good and could win the WC, Australia are clearly the team to beat. That said, NZ will give it a far better shake than England - hopefully (from an NZ persepctive) McCullum can put in a good performance Also looking forward to seeing Williamson and Anderson tackle the Aussie quicks For those who have not seen much of Williamson, he is pure class and I would say the best young bat NZ has ever produced (or at least up there with Crowe, Turner and Sutcliffe).
Riccardo
Guest
I'll second that Bobbo. Williamson is right there isn't he; love watching the guy bat. Excellent technique and application. He will only get better too at 24 years old. Don, some of his team-mates have talked about his absence out in the middle but concede it is his way of being "in the zone". Other than that he is a quietly spoken gentleman. Coney is an excellent commentator (I like Ian Smith and Brian Waddle too) but if you want something different try the Alternative Commentators Collective...
Riccardo
Guest
Vettori is class although his age belied him in the field at one point. However after Saturday's efforts with the nut and probably a small team fine we can probably forgive him. I thought Boult had a couple of very encouraging spells too and it was good to see Milne hurtling them down a click under 150. Looking forward to Eden Park against a very good Australian side.
Don Freo
Guest
I hope he's a nicer bloke than Kohli. I really respect Vettori too. My favourite Kiwi was Jeremy Coney. Limited ability but refused to lose. I'm enjoying him (hum?) as a commentator, too
Bobbo7
Guest
Good. No longer his best with the bat but he's great for 10 overs. My favourite was Dipak Patel and the current had to be Williamson who I genuinely rate as good as Kohli and Smith
bigbaz
Roar Guru
Vettori, my favourite all time Kiwi cricketer, where does he rate with you NZders?