Vettori rues lost opportunity
In what was his last innings of the series, a rearguard 71 from Brendon McCullum almost gave New Zealand the belief of producing the unthinkable against England, on the third day of the final Test at Trent Bridge
Will Luke at Trent Bridge
08-Jun-2008
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The end was quick and painless, like a plaster being removed, and as
Vettori licked his lesions, he admitted that England had dominated
them ever since that fateful day at Old Trafford when New Zealand were
blitzed by Monty Panesar.
"I don't want to take anything away from England," he said. "They've
dominated since the third day at Old Trafford, they're deserved winners
and they've thoroughly outplayed us from that point on, so we'd like
to think the gap is smaller but we have to appreciate how well England
played and they made the most of everything they did. Particularly
their swing bowlers.
"It probably sums up the state of affairs we are in," he said. "We were able to
compete for some of the time but unable to compete for a whole five
days. If you look back to the last six Test matches, the only time we
were able to do that was at Hamilton - which we won. Unfortunately
every other time we haven't been able to keep up to the pace of
England.
"I guess it's a lack of ability on our part, maybe a lack of fortitude
as well. It's something we've got to find a way to do. But having
said that we've still got a number of guys who have played under 10
Tests so it's hard to put any blame on them. It's more the experienced
guys who need to stand up and take control of the situations."
England took just 63 minutes to take the final five New Zealand
wickets - 5 for 35 in 40 clinical balls - with Ryan Sidebottom
returning to somewhere near his best in picking up his fifth
five-wicket haul. Only Jacob Oram resisted, clattering the unusually
wayward Stuart Broad over midwicket for one of
only two sixes in the match, and showing the sort of aggression and
intent so lacking from New Zealand's top-order throughout this series.
Indeed, Vettori laid the blame for their successive series defeats
firmly at the feet of his more wizened charges.
"The experienced members have to step up at the crucial moments," he
said. "We did at times, not at others. Brendon and mine's performances
were decent and I'm reasonably happy with them, but when you've got a
young team...you've got to take them along with you. You've got pockets
of performances from some of the young guys like Ross [Taylor], with
his 150; Jamie How, who I think averaged over 40 for us. So little
things like that you take with you, but experienced performers must
stand up at all times.
"The fact we performed for pockets of the Test match but not for the
whole five days is what's letting us down, and the only way you can
rectify that is by playing more and giving young guys like Daniel
Flynn, Jamie How, Ross Taylor the chance to play day after day of Test
cricket. That's not going to happen. We don't have too much say in our
scheduling but we've got to make the most of these Test series when
they do come along. If they're going to be few and far between, we've
got to perform when we do turn up."
The fact we performed for pockets of the Test match but not for the whole five days is what's letting us down, and the only way you can rectify that is by playing more - Daniel Vettori on New Zealand's inexperience | |||
The most telling problem to blight New Zealand's cricket over the past
decade was observed by their coach, John Bracewell, before the first
Test at Lord's. Speaking candidly at the press conference, he
admitted: "We don't play enough Test cricket. [Brendon] McCullum made
his Test debut three matches before Andrew Strauss did and without
missing a single match has played 32 Tests. In the same time Strauss,
who missed a series, has played 46." Strauss, the Man of the Series, can now expect to bring up his half-century of caps when South Africa come to Lord's in July. Who knows how long McCullum will have to wait for his milestone.
It is not a problem easily rectifiable in these changing times.
One-day cricket - the format which most suits New Zealand - dominates.
And Twenty20 has the potential to leapfrog 50-over cricket as the
game's principle format, if it hasn't done so already. Vettori - who
still looks far too young to have played 84 Test matches - insists
where his allegiances lie, in spite of representing Delhi Daredevils
in the recently concluded Indian Premier League. And in spite of New
Zealand's continually poor Test record - the last time they won a
series was in 2006, beating West Indies 2-0.
"From a personal point of view [Test matches] are my favourite part of
the game," he said. "It's the hardest part of the game and the
most rewarding. You never hurt this much from a one-day loss or a
Twenty20 loss and you're never as elated with the same. Test cricket
is the most important thing for a lot of guys around the world, but we
still have to back that these forms of the game are coming into it ...
and if we can find a window, then hopefully that will sort out
everyone's problems."
The sporting phrase of choice these days appears to be "journey", and
Vettori's trip as captain - to a destination yet unknown - will be
long and draining. As these six Tests against England have
demonstrated, their inability to string consistent performances over
five days has cost them dearly, and not even Vettori's intellectual
leadership can provided any viable solution.
Will Luke is a staff writer at Cricinfo