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GROS ISLET, St Lucia - While the pace bowlers won't exactly be lazing about in a Caribbean stupor, it seems inevitable spinners Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel will be among the hardest toiling New Zealanders at the cricket World Cup.
Their spin bowling partnership might not be tossed
the new ball like Dipak Patel was at Eden Park 1992, but the West Indian curators appear to be offering uniformly benign wickets tailor-made for slow or nagging medium pace.
So the Black Caps' spin master and his apprentice expect to be a cornerstone of New Zealand's campaign, which starts against England at Beaujesour Stadium tomorrow (2.30am Saturday NZT).
Although the starting line-up will not be unveiled until shortly before the toss, Vettori intimated at the final team practice session that the duo would be churning through the middle overs as a matter of course in their three pool games and beyond.
"We're probably going to play together the majority of the time and that'll work well for us," he said.
"Our relationship over the past 18 months is developing in terms of what we're trying to achieve," said the New Zealand vice captain, who wasn't about to pull rank despite having logged 191 one-dayers to Patel's 17.
"Maybe one day it's someone's turn to attack and for the other one to defend. We seem to work in tandem quite well."
Patel has played the bulk of his fledgling international career as the foil for Vettori.
He will be relishing the opportunity to apply the brakes like Kenya's tweakers managed to do before the side cruised past Canada on Wednesday.
Left arm orthodox Hiren Varaiya and Jimmy Kamande's right arm off breaks surrendered just 35 runs in 20 overs -- while picking up three wickets -- as Canada's innings never got going.
The influence of the inexperienced pair was noticed.
"What we saw with Kenya-Canada is everything came to a standstill once the spinners came on," Vettori said.
"They played a huge part and they were pretty effective all the way through."
Vettori was also adamant the New Zealand battery of part-time bowlers would have a role to play, hopefully after Shane Bond makes some early inroads.
Vettori earmarked Scott Styris as a potential thorn in opposition sides as he continued to get up to speed after suffering a back injury during an English county stint with Middlesex.
"He's probably a frontline option for us; he's got a hundred (107) one-day wickets and these are the conditions where he'll come to the fore," Vettori said of the batting allrounder.
Craig McMillan, who today passed a fitness test on the big toe bruised yesterday by a Bond yorker, was placed in the same bracket.
Jacob Oram rounds out a trio whose ability to curb the run rate will possibly prove as important as their batting prowess.
Vettori was clearly relishing his second World Cup, after failing to make an impression in South Africa four years ago.
He performed an admirable containment role, recording an economy rate of 3.98 runs per over, but struggled for penetration and managed just two wickets in seven games at 129.50 apiece.
The 28-year-old was expecting to redress that aberration, and clearly so too was coach John Bracewell, himself a former New Zealand spinner.
"I'm pretty excited. John Bracewell won't leave me alone. I think he's expecting me to do something."
- NZPA