CricketViewer.com

Daniel Vettori, New Zealand’s captain, wants his batsmen to shape up ahead of upcoming home series against Bangladesh and England.

“There’s not more pressure than playing in Australia, but the pressure is on the guys to step up and perform,” he told the New Zealand Herald. “If they think their performances here [in Australia] will lead to performances against Bangladesh they’ve got another thing coming.”

New Zealand’s batsmen also struggled in South Africa, primarily against the pace and swing of Dale Steyn, and had little answer to Brett Lee and Shaun Tait in their quick visit across the Tasman this month. In the two Test series in South Africa, New Zealand failed to cross 188 - Stephen Fleming scored the only fifty - and lost by 114 runs chasing 283 in the last match against Australia.

Vettori, having watched his line-up capitulate once too often on both tours, has called for a convincing series win over Bangladesh so everyone can be prepared when England visit in February.

“Bangladesh obviously are not as difficult as Australia, but we’ve also got a tough England team at home,” he said. “If we’re going to compete and win against them, then we’ve got to take a lot of notes from what Australia have done [in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy].”

The key part was putting runs on the board. “Generally batsmen win a lot of one-day games and put you in a position to win Tests,” said Vettori. “Sheer weight of runs puts pressure on people, something we haven’t been able to consistently do. It just leads you into situations where it’s tough to push for a win and get into position for our bowlers - and I think we’ve got a good group of bowlers when everybody is here - to have a chance to win the game.”

New Zealand host Bangladesh for three ODIs and two Tests. The series commences with the first ODI at Auckland on Boxing Day.

Source:Cricket News