Daniel Vettori and Michael Clarke
The two captains talk before the National Bank series opener in Wellington.
Daniel Vettori
On playing Australia this summer…
“It’s a big thing for all of us, this is the series everyone’s been talking about for along time.
Not only ourselves but the public and the media so we know that our summer will be judged on how we perform in this series so we have got to lift our game dramatically from where we were previously this summer because Australia are playing great cricket.”
On assuring places in the World Cup team for the BLACKCAPS..
“There is a wider squad that was brought down here so guys have some knowledge and there is a 30 man squad being named in the next couple of days so people within that, probably a few chances apart from these two games to try and impress.”
On the approach the BLACKCAPS will take on the Twenty20 matches…
“There is that respect factor. When someone is bowling fast you want to give yourself a chance. That’s the hardest thing when you face pace that quick you almost try to match it and hit the ball just as hard as its coming at you. I think the guys who have potentially been successful have played good cricket shots and I think his success has come from guys who have attacked him really hard.”
Michael Clark
On how important the World Championship is as opposed to playing New Zealand…
“For the two games of Twenty20 we have are very important for us, we played really well in Australia beating Pakistan in the World Champs and West Indies who are a very good Twenty20 side. It’s important for us to continue getting that momentum leading up to the World Cup.
We haven’t been as good as we would like in the past in this format of the game and we have set goals to continue to play good cricket in all three forms of the game. So Australia in all three forms want to win every game they play and its no different in Twenty20.”
“We have been training hard, the boys have trained hard in preparation for tomorrow night. New Zealand have got a wonderful Twenty20 side and we know we are going to have to be at our best. Like I say, these two games are great preparation leading up for the Twenty20 World Cup.”
On the pitch in Wellington…
“Personally I have played a lot on drop in wickets even in Australia and around the world. I think a few of the guys would all have experience in playing on drop in wickets. A lot of the guys haven’t been to New Zealand though so its their first opportunity here and what a wonderful place to come and see and play cricket.”
“I don’t think that will have too much of an effect. I think seeing the conditions and working out the pace of the wicket, or lack of, size of the ground compared to us coming from Australia, will be hard but that’s part of International cricket you need to be able to adjust.
The World Cup is in the West Indies, different conditions again there for us so this is a good learning curve for this Twenty20 squad to go from playing in Australia on conditions we are accustomed to coming and experiencing New Zealand which is completely different conditions.”
