It's been talked up as the the biggest match of the World Cup - NZ v Australia happens in Auckland tomorrow, and the BLACKCAPS camp is the eye of the storm.
There’s been a small to medium army of media attending each training session, and the extra attention a match with Australia in the World Cup at home will be the biggest match many in the group will have experienced.
If picked, Saturday’s match will be the 58th time Dan Vettori has played Australia in ODIs. And having that experience in the group is invaluable in big games like this.
“The guys are in a really good space, and that’s come from a lot of winning cricket, in the Sri Lanka series, in the Pakistan series and even over in Dubai. There’s a good feeling in the team, but we know there’s a pretty big game this Saturday,” said Vettori.
Vettori has been part of some legendary clashes against Australia over the years, like the 2001-02 Tri Series, where the BLACKCAPS helped knock the hosts out of their own series finals, and the 2006-07 Chappell-Hadlee series, where the BLACKCAPS chased 300 twice in a row to sweep the series.
“Everyone will have experiences that will they can look back fondly around these games and the performances they may have put up at times, but also if you’re played in a few big games there’s probably been some disappointment as well,” said Vettori – but he feels his younger team mates will be fine.
“So probably coming in with a pretty clean slate like a lot of our guys will be doing, haven’t played against Australia, won’t have played in front of as big a crowd, it’ll just be an exciting thing for them,” said Vettori.
The sold out crowd at New Zealand’s biggest stadium should give the BLACKCAPS the edge, but Vettori cautions the tournament won’t be won or lost on Saturday.
“Because of what we experienced in Wellington, we’d love to see something similar to that here, hearing Timmy’s name chanted was something I think all of us will remember fondly.
“This will be an amazing game and an amazing event, and could decide who tops the table as well, but there’s still a lot of round robin games to decide that,” said Vettori.
BLACKCAPS v Australia starts at 2pm Saturday at Eden Park.
