NAPIER : Daniel Vettori can reach another milestone in his outstanding international career on Sunday when New Zealand face Afghanistan in the World Cup, but the 36-year-old’s focus is far from the achievement. The left-arm spinner is two victims shy of joining an elite club of 11 bowlers with 300 wickets in one-day internationals. Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan heads the list on 534. Vettori would also become just the ninth player to have taken more than 300 wickets in both ODIs and tests. ‘For a long time, thinking about those test records were really quite important to me so one-day cricket got put in the background a little bit,’ said Vettori, who has 298 wickets in 290 matches for New Zealand and a World XI. ‘I came into the tournament thinking that way as well and was more interested in how we are progressing and developing as a side.
‘So I haven’t really thought about it at all but it would be a lovely thing to achieve.’
Vettori has been blighted by injury over the last two years, which has restricted his involvement in the national team, though he has been a key member of Brendon McCullum’s side in the tournament so far.
His role is to tie up one end and exert scoreboard pressure on opposition batsmen while McCullum’s pace bowlers blast away at the other.
Vettori said he drew immense satisfaction from the way that plan had worked in New Zealand’s last match, where he choked off the runs against a rampant Australian batting lineup before Trent Boult ripped through their order with five wickets. ‘With the way Trent bowled and took wickets while I tied up the runs at other end, as a combination we did a really good job for the team,’ he added of the one-wicket victory over their trans-Tasman neighbours.
That win meant New Zealand remained unbeaten after four games in Pool A, though they were not treating Sunday’s match at McLean Park in Napier lightly.
‘Afghanistan have been quite impressive,’ he said of the World Cup debutants’ performances so far, which included a victory against Scotland. ‘They have got a balanced lineup. ‘That’s they best way to look at the associate teams. What are they like as a whole 11? And as an 11 they’re a really good team.’
(AGENCIES)
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