Tackling Pak spinners during middle overs will be crucial, says Vettori

We stand on the verge of another semifinal encounter in a major international competition, and we are hopeful, despite the string of injuries that has hit our campaign, that this time, we will clear the last-four hurdle.

The latest in an unfortunate sequence of injuries that seems to have become something of a trend with New Zealand sides in big events is Grant Elliott’s broken thumb. Grant was the man of the match in our win over England, which earned us qualification to the semifinals, and this injury is a bit of a shame, coming as it does after the earlier blows we have had.

Scott Styris has come over for Grant, and his experience should come in handy for the team when we take on Pakistan if Grant doesn’t play. Pakistan have had the wood over us in semifinals of major tournaments in recent times, and it will be crucial how we tackle their spinners in the middle overs. Over the last year or so, Afridi and Ajmal have done an excellent job for them, and we need to come up with the right answers in that important phase of the game.

Having had a look at the Wanderers strip, it’s the same one on which we played against Sri Lanka. We batted first in that game and put up 315, and Sri Lanka came pretty close to that total, so I expect this match too to see plenty of runs. Needless to say, we will miss the batting skills of Ryder and Oram, because it’s never easy to lose first-squad players in the middle of a world event, but I firmly believe that the guys that have come in have the quality to step in to the breach nicely and deliver the goods for the team.

As ever, the ICC awards function too was an enjoyable one. It’s always nice to see cricketers rewarded for their contributions, and everyone who won an award fully deserved it. I was happy for Martin Guptill, who figures in the ODI side of the Year, and Mitchell Johnson winning the Cricketer of the Year was no surprise given the fantastic last 12 months he has had for Australia.

We won the Spirit of Cricket award, an interesting one that. We have sometimes been criticised in the past for being too nice, but New Zealanders in general are that way. Saying that, everyone who plays the game wants to play it fairly and in the right spirit, and at the same time, everyone wants to win as well. If we can win this Champions Trophy as well to go with the Spirit of Cricket award, it will be a great week personally for me and for New Zealand cricket. First up is the semifinal against Pakistan. I look at it as the start that will help us show the world that nice guys too can finish first!