The New Zealand cricket team has suffered nine consecutive defeats and is currently three down to the Indian team in the One day series being played between the two nations.
The skipper of the team Daniel Vettori has said that it is time for the batsmen to step up and take the responsibility to lead their side to victory. The two teams will be playing the fourth match of the five match series on Tuesday. India has already won
the series and will be looking for a whitewash. New Zealand on the other hand will play for their pride and try to avoid a humiliating whitewash.
The captain of the New Zealand team has blamed the batsmen for the current situation they are in. He feels that the top order batsmen are not posting enough runs which puts too much pressure on the middle order. He claims that if there were enough runs on
the board, the bowlers would have tried to pressurise the batsmen.
The wickets in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 team has been unable to score positively in these conditions. If the batsmen attack at the top to pressurise the Indian bowlers, it will be then the bowlers who can work out different plans to stop
the runs and restrict the Indian batting. However, it is difficult to score less runs and then take ten wickets in these conditions.
Vettori is also hopeful that Brendon McCullum is fit enough to keep the wickets from the next match onwards. He is having a problem with his back and it is difficult to keep wickets under these circumstances. If McCullum is fit to keep wickets in the next
match, New Zealand will have the option of playing an extra batsman or an all-rounder.
Vettori also hinted that their cricket board is keen to hire Mushtaq Ahmed as their spin bowling coach.
Recently, the former New Zealand cricketer Mark http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Richardson-c85395 said that the New Zealand team will need to win a series of matches from now on to regain their confidence. The current performance of the team is their second worst performance off all time. They
have lost nine matches in a row. Their worst performance was in 1994-95 when they had lost 13 matches in a row.
Richardson said that in 2007, the New Zealand team had the confidence and batting strength to beat any other team. Currently the team is lacking that confidence. They will have to regain their confidence by possibly winning the last couple of games against
India and then perform well against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 who also have been struggling in the recent times.
At the end of the day, it will all depend on how the New Zealand players cope with the pressure they are in. The senior players need to inspire the youngsters by performing well. Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915, Scott Styris or Brendon McCullum should bat positively and lead
their side out of crisis.
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