Cricket: Vettori optimistic of switch to one-day mode

COLOMBO - Having fallen well short in the test series against Sri Lanka, there are no guarantees of redemption for the New Zealand cricket team in the limited overs component of their tour beginning tomorrow.

New Zealand are traditionally better equipped to handle cricket's short forms where they enjoy playing shots with relative impunity and under time constraints - especially in Twenty20.

Risk assessment is not as imperative in a three-hour slugfest so making an impatient 30 then getting out with a three-figure strike rate is condoned, essential even.

So where New Zealand's top and middle order frittered away promising starts at Galle and the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, for the next three days those that remain should avoid condemnation if they fail to push on.

New Zealand were anxious to move on from the 2-0 test series defeat.

Captain Daniel Vettori spoke optimistically about the switch to one-day mode, believing his side would be more capable of matching a Sri Lankan line-up that ruled all facets in the tests.

However, New Zealand's recent history suggests there could be more tough times ahead before their five-week tour wraps up with a Tri-Series involving India.

The Twenty20 world championship in June was a chastening experience for a team that had arrived in England with expectations of at least making the semifinals.

Instead they were able to beat only the part-timers of Scotland and Ireland.

Sri Lanka will field at least one elder statesman in Sanath Jayasuriya whose eyes remain sharp despite turning 40.

The opener played his last test in 2007 but is still an integral member of the Twenty20 and ODI squads. Jayasuriya, who has a strike rate of 138.36 from 19 Twenty20 matches, partners the equally explosive Tillakaratne Dilshan while Sri Lanka's other key batsmen, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, have no issues turning from stylists to sloggers.

Sri Lanka rested Nuwan Kulasakera, the world's leading ODI bowler, from the second test so the right-arm quick could return while unorthodox fast bowler Lasith Malinga is also in the squad as he undergoes a gradual return from a serious knee injury.

New Zealand's line-up includes Jesse Ryder, who returns to open with Brendon McCullum while Shane Bond's return to international cricket could see Ian Butler or Kyle Mills relegated.

- NZPA