“I’m just going to have to manage it well and keep on top of my fitness through the summer if I’m going to have any hope of making the World Cup team”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
New Zealand all-rounder Daniel Vettori has revealed that he still dreams of World Cup glory and hopes it comes to fruition next year.
However, bowling 10 overs has started to become a tough task for Vettori, especially since he has sustained numerous injuries in the past couple of years.
But, it is hard to picture Vettori struggling to get through 10 overs, especially since he once bowled 92.5 overs in a Test match against India in November 2010.
Due to his injuries, Vettori refused to sign a new central contract and has only been playing in domestic Twenty20 tournaments this year.
“It’s a bit of everything. You get to a certain age and things start to give up,” Vettori told ESPNcricinfo. “I’m just going to have to manage it well and keep on top of my fitness through the summer if I’m going to have any hope of making the World Cup team.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence in my body. I just have to get back into it. I’ve done a lot of the work in the off-season and I’ve still been able to bowl a reasonable amount through some T20 leagues, but 10 overs is a big step up and the length of time in the field as well. We played a game yesterday and…here’s hoping I can get through the rest of the one-day season.”
Vettori has represented New Zealand in four World Cups, but the farthest he has come to achieving his goal of World Cup glory is the semi-finals on two separate occasions.
Vettori also recalled how he watched Pakistan beat New Zealand in the semi-final of the 1992 World Cup when he was 13.
Now that New Zealand are hosting the 2015 World Cup with Australia, Vettori is hoping the Blackcaps can inspire a whole generation of youngsters to start playing cricket, with the hopes of leading New Zealand to victory in a future World Cup.
“It’s a huge incentive for most of the guys in the team,” Vettori said. “It’s great for the guys at the start of their careers to play a World Cup in New Zealand. There’s only been one before and the guys remember it from ’92, saw how much it affected the country and how well the team performed at the time. It meant so much to so many people and we’re definitely hoping to replicate that.
“I have very fond memories, I remember watching all the games through the tournament and I remember how well we played and how well in particular Martin Crowe played, and Mark Greatbatch. There was the first-up win against Australia at Eden Park. All those are pretty lucid memories even now.
“The format really appealed back then. We played all the teams. To have a chance as a young cricketing fan to see all those players come to the country and see how the New Zealand guys performed against them – I know a lot of these guys here would love to leave that legacy.”
However, to be part of this “legacy”, Vettori has to prove that he is capable of playing an entire ODI series without breaking down.
Luckily for him, he will have plenty of oportunities to do that since New Zealand will be playing South Africa later this month. They will also square off against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in December before returning home to face Sri Lanka and Pakistan.