Vettori heroics take New Zealand to final

Daniel Vettori has been New Zealand's best bowler for a long time now and over the past couple of years has become one of their better batsmen as well. In the semi-final against Pakistan, he starred with both bat and ball to take New Zealand to the final of an ICC event for only the second time.

First, he came on to bowl when Pakistan were at a rocky 69 for 3. Pakistan needed a renovation job from Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, but bowling at such times is right up Vettori's alley. In his second over, he got a leading edge from Younis, the Pakistan captain's third failure in three innings in the tournament. Only Umar Akmal came to terms with Vettori's nagging bowling, while the rest struggling to score off him; Yousuf, in particular, was tied down, making only 6 off 24 balls off Vettori.

With a little help from the umpire Taufel he ended Akmal's dangerous innings to spark a Pakistan collapse late in the innings. He finished with figures of 10-2-43-3.

There was more to come from Vettori, promoting himself to No. 6 in the batting order. He walked in at 126 for 4, with the game evenly balanced. With Grant Elliott rock solid at the other end, he calmly picked off the singles - his first 16 runs all came off ones. It was only when the asking-rate inched above 7, and the Powerplays were taken, that he opened out. A couple of mows towards midwicket and a straight clubbed four kept the required-rate in check. By the time he was out, New Zealand were only four runs away from victory; he and Elliott had put on 104 invaluable runs to shove Pakistan out of the Champions Trophy.