Vettori cool as perfect record goes

Daniel Vettori

His perfect captaincy record slashed to shreds by Australia, Daniel Vettori set about ensuring there were no scars left among his New Zealand cricket teammates.

The Black Caps would have to turn the laws of sporting nature on their head to become the first winners of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, such was the emphatic nature of Australia's 147-run win at Auckland on Saturday.

However, Vettori said there would be no picking over the Eden Park carcass, believing that would serve little purpose with little time for he and coach John Bracewell to instill much-needed confidence before the second match at Westpac Stadium here on Wednesday.

"The only good thing we have going is that we play so much cricket these days. There's a high turnover these days so you've got to move on pretty quickly," Vettori said.

"We have to put this behind us, otherwise we'll get caught up in this performance and it will affect the next two.

"We want to go into the rest of the series still trying to win it and if we think about this game the whole time, we'll probably get stuck on it."

Left-arm spinner Vettori's previous stint as skipper came in Bangladesh a year ago when he led the Black Caps to a predictable 3-0 clean sweep.

The opposition is a world apart this time, Vettori having lost his last 10 games against Australia, including three recently for the World 11.

He could have done little more himself on Saturday, standing out as the pick of the bowlers with two for 29 of 10 controlled overs and batting far too low in the order at 10 to have any impact on New Zealand's flawed chase.

New Zealand coach John Bracewell was impressed by Vettori's leadership in the field and bowling changes which "screwed down" the Australian innings when it threatened to get away.

Vettori will return the captaincy to Stephen Fleming if the former leader is deemed fit enough for the third and final match at Christchurch on Saturday after getting over surgery to remove a tumour from his jaw.

- NZPA