The third Test will define our summer: Daniel Vettori – Cricket News Update
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wellington-c864 on March 23, will determine whether his team has had a successful season.
“It's [the third Test] pretty influential on our summer,” Vettori said. “If we can scrap back from this Test match, it's been overall a very successful summer. If not, then I think we will remember it for that loss.”
The Kiwis summer included a string of successes. While the Trans-Tasman Trophy Down Under ended in a 1-1 tie, the Kiwis finished the 2-match Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 on a high note, securing a 7-run win against the host team at Hobart on December 12.
They followed that up with a hugely successful series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 earlier this year, securing a 301-run victory in the only Test, and following that up with series sweeps in both the ODIs (3-0) and the T20s (2-0).
However, South Africa’s tour of New Zealand resulted in the host team being humbled on home ground. They lost the T20 series 1-2, and went on to suffer a humiliating 0-3 defeat in the ODIs. The first Test match was drawn due to rain, but the Black Caps were
thumped by the tourists in the second match, losing by 9-wickets, a defeat they owed largely to South Africa’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vernon-Philander-c2753, who claimed 10 scalps.
“Unfortunately we let ourselves down with the bat in the first Test and we fought back with the ball and then let ourselves down again with the bat,” Vettori observed. “That's been the talk from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/John-Geoffrey-Wright-c67883] and Ross [Taylor} so far: applying ourselves
with the bat and putting a score on the board for our three seamers to make the most of these conditions.”
The Kiwi team management had been deliberating the addition of an extra specialist batsman, and have been tweaking the batting order for the final Test, with changes including the dropping of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RJ-Nicol-c2331 (who has been mediocre against the Proteas, despite
some stellar outings against the Rhodesians earlier), and the inclusion of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dean-Brownlie-c1349.
With a Test series win out of their hands, the Black Caps still have a chance to salvage their pride on home ground as they prepare to tackle the Proteas for the third and final Test this Friday.
Tags: