Murali poses same threat as Lee, says Vettori

BY JONATHAN Millmow

DANIEL Vettori believes Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan poses the same threat to them as Brett Lee did in the Chappell-Hadlee series.

The stand-in skipper is cautioning against over-confidence in the one-day international in Queenstown today only, it seems, because of the presence of the man with one of the most peculiar bowling actions the game has ever seen.

"He's huge - you just look at his numbers and the stats he has put up against us," Vettori said.

"He's an amazing bowler, one of the best ever to grace the game, so we are very wary of him.

"We look at him in a Brett Lee-type scenario, where he was Australia's main strike bowler, and we've got to find ways to cope with that and to not let him give them momentum throughout the game. He comes on and takes wickets, and we can't let that happen."

Muralitharan has taken 47 wickets against New Zealand at 19.63 - not staggering statistics but impressive all the same. He will not strike a pitch spitting balls out of the rough like fat from the frying pan today but his variations are mind-boggling and he confronts a batting order short on experience and confidence.

"Every series he plays in he is a factor and it doesn't matter who the opposition is. We realise he is one of the greatest bowlers ever to play the game, so we have to respect that."

Vettori said the Black Caps had discussed methods to combat Muralitharan, but they had purposely stopped short of overloading rookies Jamie How and Peter Fulton with too much information.

"We don't want to put too much in their heads. We can talk about guys like (Chaminda) Vaas and Murali, they've got to have a massive respect factor for two quality bowlers, but we just want them to go out there and do what they've done to make the team so far."

The concern for New Zealand is whether they can post a decent score. With new caps and players out of form, there is considerable pressure on Scott Styris and the allrounders to come to the party.

It was hardly surprising that Vettori spoke openly of wanting to bowl first, allowing him the liberty of bringing Nathan Astle into the game in the second innings as their super-sub.

"I think he comes straight into the mix. I've played with Nathan a long time and I know what he can offer. The decision will be made tomorrow but I think Nathan has a chance of becoming part of that."

Vettori admitted the time-honoured combination of a sub-continent team first-up in New Zealand conditions gave them grounds for confidence.

"On our home turf, playing against a sub-continent team, we do have some confidence we can get on top of them."

New Zealand have a long list about what they want to achieve against Sri Lanka. It starts with victory and ends with demoralising the opposition. Sandwiched in between are improvements in fielding, bowling at the death and top order batting.

"We still have confidence in our guys at the death and with Shane Bond coming back into the mix it certainly helps. We've got a new-look top three (batting) that we are very confident can do the job and fielding is something we have prided ourselves on for a long time.

Maybe we've let it slip for the last 18 months, so this series, with the personnel we have, there is no excuse for not producing a top-notch fielding performance."

[The Dominion Post]