CWC 2019: Daniel Vettori backs Kane Williamson's New Zealand to create history in England

New Zealand will definitely qualify for the semi-finals, says Vettori.

New Zealand can qualify for Semi-finals | Getty Images

Daniel Vettori has still faith on Kane Williamson and his co. over their resurgence in England despite their straight two defeats in the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2019, saying New Zealand is able to make history by winning the crown in England and Wales.

The Black Caps suffered their second defeat of 86 runs of the tournament against Australia at Lord's on Saturday, after being thrashed out by Pakistan that shrinks their chances for the semi-finals' spot, but Vettori, former Kiwi all-rounder believes that they will go all the way in the ICC event.

Vettori said in an ICC Media column, “I still definitely feel that this New Zealand side can make history and win it all. Two losses at this stage will be tough to take but they have been so good for so long and have so many experienced players that I am sure they will pull through.”

He continued, “It is a bit tighter now, but I still think they will feel pretty confident. Even if every result goes against them, their net run rate should still put them into the semi-finals. The nature of this New Zealand team for an extended period of time now has been to stay pretty constant, to not panic.”

Meanwhile, Vettori stressed on the need to call on all their strengths to beat the hosts England in their next World Cup match to make it to semi-finals.

He added, “They will understand that they have played some really good cricket in this tournament. They will need to call on all their strengths to get through against the hosts. But even if they don't win against England and go through via net run rate, or other results going their way, I still think they will walk into the semi-finals thinking they can beat anyone on their day.”

With the Black Caps yet to reach 300 in the tournament, Vettori's main concern is whether New Zealand could put opponents in trouble on slow English pitches by scoring enough runs on the board.  

He signed off by saying, “The only question mark for them will be the surfaces they were playing on. It looks like across the board the surfaces are getting slower. That makes it more difficult for batting and those partnerships are going to become more important, I am sure that will be a big focus against England.”

(With AFP Inputs)

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 01 Jul, 2019

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