Cricket: Top four morph into a force to be reckoned with

Daniel Vettori likes to deliver his messages in monochrome but you get the feeling even he is genuinely excited by the firepower he now possesses at the top of the order.

One of the world's most laidback leaders, Vettori was positively gushing about the top four heading into Tuesday's opening one-day international against India at Napier.

"The most pleasing aspect has been the top four batting," he said after the two-match twenty20 series.

"They've shown an ability to get us off to a great start and then finish it off. That's pretty exciting because the top four wins you a lot of twenty20 games and a lot of one-day games.

"If these guys can stay together for a period of time because they're all pretty young, it's pretty exciting for New Zealand cricket."

The four are Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor.

At 27 McCullum is the oldest while Guptill is the youngest at 22. Ryder and Taylor are 24, though Taylor turns 25 on Sunday.

More important are these numbers. All except McCullum average more than 30 (McCullum averages 28 overall but 34.3 as an opener). Guptill leads with an inflated 60.2 because he has played only seven matches, and Taylor and Ryder 39.5 and 33 respectively.

However, an ODI average is only part of the story. What must really please Vettori is the fact they compile runs so quickly. Ryder has the lowest strike rate at 82.9 runs per 100 balls, while McCullum leads at 89.3.

With that sort of production and pace, big totals are odds-on.

The most intriguing aspect has been the transformation of McCullum from a crash, bang, wallop merchant to elder statesman, tailoring his approach to suit the game. Part of that stems from his position of responsibility, and some from the fact he hasn't hit that many out of the screws of late.

"Hopefully I can carry that through to the one-dayers," he said on Friday.

Vettori expected India would be confident because they had played well this season. He expects the series to be close, after all it's written in the charts.

"I'm a bit of a numbers man so I look at the world rankings and see where India's ranked. We're pretty close [India are third, New Zealand fourth] and playing at home we have a pretty good record... it's going to be a close contest," Vettori said.

India captain MS Dhoni warned not to read too much into the twenty20 results.

"The problem comes when you are nicking loads of balls... but that is not happening. Most of the guys have had ample time on the wickets and that will be a great help in the one-dayers."

Indians have long believed no one holds a candle to Sachin Tendulkar and now the master batsman is having his image cast in wax at Madame Tussauds in London.

Tendulkar's triumphant image will go up at the famous waxwork museum in April, next to other cricketing greats such as retired West Indies batsman Brian Lara and Australian spinner Shane Warne, Tussauds said in a statement.

The highest test and one-day run-getter's figure will also rub shoulders with sporting headliners such as David Beckham and Tiger Woods in the museum's interactive sports zone.

"We are delighted to confirm our next sporting superstar is going to be Sachin Tendulkar; his achievements on the cricket pitch are phenomenal and he is one of the biggest names in international sport," Liz Edwards, Madame Tussauds PR manager, said in the statement.

Tendulkar will be the first Indian sports personality to be unveiled at Tussauds, although the museum features wax statues of many Bollywood actors and politicians.

Tendulkar will be featured in a typical celebratory "on the pitch" pose after scoring a century, dressed in cricket whites.

He has already had a sitting with a team that travelled to Mumbai to capture a catalogue of reference photographs and over 200 precise measurements.

There will also be a cricketing challenge around the introduction of the figure, where guests can test their skills against the 'masterblaster', it said.