Black Caps must be ready for change in WorldTwenty20 competition: Vettori

BARBADOS - New Zealand has so far had an easy fare at the Twenty20 cricket world championship, but captain Daniel Vettori says that’s about to change.

Having beaten Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, Vettori said: “If you couple (today) with the Sri Lankan performance, to go through to the next round with two wins is what we aimed for and we’re pleased with that. We walk away pretty comfortable and looking forward to Super Eights.”

The New Zealanders are now preparing for the first of three Super Eight fixtures, against either South Africa or India at Kensington Oval on Friday morning.

Their opponents after that are confirmed, against Pakistan in Barbados on Sunday, followed by England in St Lucia on Tuesday next week.

“There’s always aspects you want to improve on, but the fight back in the field and the way Nathan (McCullum) and Scott (Styris) bowled to give us a huge momentum change made a real difference,” said Vettori, noting that seam bowlers Shane Bond and Tim Southee lacked the same early impact.

“We did well in the first six (overs), but I think we can do better. That’s the area we really have to improve. We’ve got a really good balanced lineup and some destructive guys there as well,” Vettori said.

“The top eight teams’ aim here is to win the World Cup and each captain could sit here and say that quite comfortably. We’re no different but we know there’s a long way to go and there’s some very impressive teams we have to beat to get to that stage. The Super Eights is our focus and we’ll worry about the semi-finals if we get there,” he added. (ANI)