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Daniel Vettori is the Kiwi Clark Kent, but he'll need to transform into a spinning Superman if the Black Caps are to upstage the world champs
Daniel, what's with the specs?I've tried contacts in the past, but they're a bit of a pain in the arse to wear. I's have to change them every six hours and they're uncomfortable, so I prefer the glasses.
Is that part of the theory, that no reasonable Aussie would hit a bloke with glasses? Yeah, I'd like to think that's the case. I'm not so sure McGrath, Gillespie and Lee would agree thought.
You took 14 wickets at an average of 15.57 in the last series against the Aussies. Have you got their measure?I was happy with how I bowled, particularly at Eden Park. I wouldn'st say I've got the measure of them, because I've been belted by them as well. I was man of the match at Eden Park, but that was a pretty hollow feeling - I certainly would've given up the award to have won the game. Still, they're good figures to take into a series.
Are you confident you can put Australia off their game?Absolutely. We're going to Australia to win the series. It'll be nice to have blokes like Cairns and Nash back - they'll give us a real big chance. Nobody should write us off. We've got to put Australia on the back foot - take them away from their natural game plan, wich is to attack. So we've got to tget them to defend, either by scoring a big total or bowling them out for a low score.
Has being on the wrong end of a 3-0 shellacking entered your mind?No, certainly not. Mate, it's not going to happen. We look at Australia as one of the better tours to go on and obviously the hardest. But we're not worried about it. If we can beat the Aussies we've got to be rated up there with the best in the world.
Have the boys looked at the irony of Air New Zealand trashing the Australian cricket team's sponser?Yeah, well we weren't allowed into Pakistan ... we probably won't be allowed in Australia soon as well!
Does the fact that New Zealand got done by Australia in the Bledisloe Cup, the league test and the soccer World Cup qualifiers hurt or help?Oh, it has to hurt. I played soccer as a kid, I like watching league and rugby is our major sport, so it always hurts. But it just sets up nicely for the New Zealand cricket side to be one of the few teams to come out on top of Australia.
Can you spot a weakness in Australia's make-up?Yeah, they haven't got a fourth spinner.
I've heard your weakness is that the girls are rather fond of you over in New Zealand ...Oh yeah, there's certainly groupies in New Zealand. Maybe in the past I just let them run wild, but i've started to manage them now.
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