Skipper Daniel Vettori said New Zealand must make their semi-final against Sri Lanka on Tuesday a starting point for bigger achievements in international cricket. The Black Caps have never progressed beyond the World Cup semi-finals in five previous attempts, but Vettori hoped his team move on from their upset quarter-final win over South Africa.
"I think we need to move on pretty quickly from that South Africa game," said Vettori of New Zealand's 49-run win at Dhaka. "It was obviously a tremendous result for us but Sri Lanka is a completely different prospect. It's a different game so we need a different game plan and a better game plan if we want to succeed."
The 32-year-old Vettori brushed aside criticism of New Zealand not being capable of going one step further in the World Cup. "We're proud of our achievement. I look at the positives of making the semi-finals. Everyone wants to talk about our record of not going on any further, but I think it's an amazing achievement for a small country. "In the Champions Trophy in 2009 we went one step further and made the final against Australia. So we can look on that and hope it's a starting point for us going past the semis." Vettori believed this semi-final would be even tougher than their 81-run defeat against the same opponents in the 2007 World Cup semi-final.
"This semi-final's going to be a lot harder because Sri Lanka are playing at home. Maybe five or six of us were involved last time so there's a high turnover of players and it's probably a different thing," said Vettori, who has already said he will step down as captain after the event.
"I'm 32 so I think it's time for someone new to come in. After four years, some fresh ideas and a different voice. I wanted to give as much as I could in that time, and then whoever the next man is, stick around and support him as much as I can," added the skipper who has 281 one-day wickets. Vettori said New Zealand's change in fortunes after losing 4-0 in Bangladesh and 5-0 in India owed much to new coach John Wright and the players.
"John's been fantastic, but the players took the blame for those losses (to Bangladesh) so I think the players have to take credit for the wins as well," he said. "So it's been a combination of the two. I've loved working with Wrighty and he's brought a lot of passion to the team. And his knowledge of people over here and grounds has been a tremendous help as well."
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