KEY POINTS:
Jeetan Patel reckons it's up to him to try to force Australia to change their softly-softly approach towards New Zealand's top bowler - spinner Daniel Vettori.
Tipped to join Vettori in the line-up for today's opening one-dayer of the Chappell-Hadlee series, Patel this week spoke of the responsibility he shared in trying to pressure Australia into taking more risks as they negotiated their 50 overs.
Australia's usual approach to New Zealand's attack is to treat Vettori with care and to preserve wickets while he operates, with the intention of making up for any lost productivity against less threatening bowlers later in the innings.
The strategy was never more evident than in the 12 months between December 2004 and 2005, when Vettori played 10 ODIs against Australia, bowled his full 100 overs, and escaped with the scarcely believable economy rate of 3.49.
Then there was the high-scoring game at Perth during this summer's tri-series, when Vettori managed to concede just 34 runs off 10 overs in an innings in which Australia frolicked to 343 for five - the highest total at the Waca.
"I think they will [target me]," Patel said. "They see Dan Vettori as a big threat, and me as someone they can take on.
"So I've just got to be a bit more honest with what I'm trying to do, be confident, and go with what I know."
Patel played Australia twice during the tri-series and on both occasions went for more than 60 runs, something he regards as a good learning experience, and one that gave him an insight into how the opposition were approaching him.
"The way I see it, if they're going to be more defensive against Dan then I've got a chance to take wickets," he said.
"I know I've also got to be smart about it - I'm there to contain and bowl as many dot balls as I can; to build the pressure on the opposition batsmen - but if they're going to come after me, that's an opportunity."
However, Patel drew the line at making any fundamental changes to his approach against Australia, saying the key for him was to keep reading the game so he could be pro-active, rather than reactive.
"You have different plans for different players, no matter who they play for. You just try and stick to those as much as you can and read the game along the way.
"I'm not going to change the way I bowl too much just because they're Australian. I might have to be a little more defensive, but the key is to be smarter."
Apart from the tri-series games against Australia, he bowled well against England in a low-scoring contest at Hobart, and was then bled for 53 runs in New Zealand's loss to Michael Vaughan's crew at Brisbane.
The 26-year-old will probably never be much of a threat with the bat, but showed enough urgency in the field during the Australia tour to remain a viable option whenever coach John Bracewell believes the conditions favour spin.
"In a way, I was pleased with the way I bowled but there were times when I probably let myself down and wasn't as confident as I could have been," said Patel. "It's good to look back on it now, it was a good experience."
Patel has played two of his 16 ODIs at Wellington and has impressed on both occasions, turning in solid spells with the ball as New Zealand first beat Sri Lanka in January last year, and then knocked over the West Indies a month later.
Against Sri Lanka, Patel snared two for 23 off 10 overs, and against the West Indies he took two for 46 off 9.3.
"I've had a little bit of success at this stadium so it's going to be good fun," he said. "Sri Lanka was a game in which everything just worked for me."
Now that the World Cup squad of 15 had been named, there was a noticeable increase in the excitement levels among the players, both at the prospect of playing in the Chappell-Hadlees and in the West Indies.
"There's definitely a lot of excitement ... firstly in these three games against the Aussies, and then at the World Cup.
"It's a big time for us; Aussie have just been beaten by the English and we think we've got a huge chance, and the Caribbean campaign is just a few weeks away."
