Daniel Vettori will look for a magic cure to New Zealand’s traditionalbatting woes before Friday’s second Test as they attempt the difficulttask of levelling the series in Adelaide

Cricinfo staff23-Nov-2008
Daniel Flynn is unlikely to be moved up the order from No. 6 © Getty Images
Daniel Vettori will look for a magic cure to New Zealand’s traditionalbatting woes before Friday’s second Test as they attempt the difficulttask of levelling the series in Adelaide. One of the many worries forVettori when he took over the leadership from Stephen Fleming in 2007 wasthe side’s lack of run-scoring ability and it was on display again inBrisbane as they were dismissed for 156 and 177 on the way to a 149-rundefeat.”It’s been a problem well before I was captain,” Vettori said. “A lot ofguys went through it and tried to find ways of redeeming it. I still lookat the guys and think they’re extremely talented, but we have to turn thattalent into consistent performances and unfortunately we’re not justgetting that.”A lack of output from the batsmen is a long-term problem and it is madeharder by the fact five of the current top six have played fewer than 20Tests. Vettori hopes his team-mates will learn quickly on the job anddevelop in to strong international players.”We’ve always produced quality bowlers but with the batting there’s MartinCrowe, who averages 45 with 17 Test hundreds, and then there’s a prettybig gap,” he said. “Historically, we’ve always struggled with our batting.But I look at Jesse Ryder, I look at Ross Taylor, Jamie How, BrendonMcCullum and Daniel Flynn, who are very good players, and once they haveplayed 20 Test matches in those positions they can average 40 and can bevery good players.”At the moment we’re trying to work with some very young guys, some veryinexperienced guys. I think even Australian guys in their first 10 Testmatches would find it difficult coming into conditions like this.”Taylor top scored for New Zealand with 75 in the second innings but onlyhe and Ryder looked capable of attacking Australia, while Daniel Flynnstood firm on both occasions from No. 6. Vettori will resist making manychanges to the line-up and is reluctant to alter the order.”Jesse has always batted in that area his whole career and Daniel hasbatted five, so we would have been changing and probably upsetting a guyin his third Test and a guy in his sixth Test,” he said. “It would be abit too much.”Despite the side’s batting woes, Vettori does not believe he is resignedto a couple of tough years in charge. “I do have a lot of faith in them,”he said. “I see the talent in them and I think they are very good players.I’ll back them. We’ll get them improving, we have to accelerate thatimprovement.”Most guys maybe get 15 Tests to improve themselves and we’re trying toget guys to do that in five to 10. I hope we can turn it around comeAdelaide because Adelaide is renowned as a great batting deck. If we canget some guys to stand up there and get those hundreds on the board, thenI think we give ourselves a chance with our bowling line-up.”