Vettori wary of even better Pakistan

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has warned his teammates to expect an even stronger Pakistan in the World Cup Group A match on Tuesday than the team they lost to shortly before the tournament started.

New Zealand lost a hard-fought one-day series to Pakistan 3-2 just two weeks before the World Cup started last month.

“It was a pretty tightly-fought series in our conditions, this is more like their conditions,” Vettori said. “They’re probably going to be an even better team than the one we came across.”

Pakistan has six points with three wins out of three games while New Zealand are on four after lopsided victories over Kenya and Zimbabwe and a defeat against Australia.

New Zealand go into Tuesday’s match with a very poor recent record in the subcontinent after Bangladesh and India both whitewashed them in one-day series and with Vettori demanding consistency.

“That’s pretty much where we’ve let ourselves down in the past,” said Vettori. “We’ve not been able to put consistent team performances together.”

Vettori said his team needed to lift its own game against Pakistan, which despite fielding and batting lapses managed victories over Sri Lanka and Canada - mainly due to Shahid Afridi’s bowling.

“They are playing really well,” Vettori said. “We have to find a way to beat them rather than anything else because I think they are going to be tough opposition throughout the tournament as well.”

New Zealand’s batsmen had been exposed just once in the World Cup when they were beaten by Australia. Opening batsmen Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum put on two solid partnerships in 10-wicket victories over weak Kenya and Zimbabwe.

“There’s always more to be done,” he said. “Hopefully there is some confidence from the Zimbabwe game....if we can bring the same performance in this game then it’s going to be huge for us in the tournament.”

Middle-order batsman Ross Taylor has a fair idea about playing at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, which will be hosting its first one-day international.

Taylor scored 47 runs against Sri Lanka ‘A’ when New Zealand played a warm-up match here in August before a triangular series.

“Ross Taylor is obviously one of our very good players if not our best batsman,” Vettori said. “He has high expectations from himself and he wants to perform. “I expect him at some stage in this tournament to win a game for us and hopefully it’s tomorrow.”