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NEWS UPDATE : Asian Cricket Third Sri Lanka-Pakistan ODI abandoned due to rain COLOMBO: The third One-day International between Sri Lanka and Pakistan was abandoned due to rain here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. The umpires made this decision after consulting ... Australia want to master all forms of game: Clarke SYDNEY: Australia's limited-overs tour of England and Ireland represents the start of a two-year campaign to make them the top nation in all three forms of the game, captain Michael Clarke said ... Bopara glad to be back for England SOUTHAMPTON, England: Ravi Bopara is eager to make up for lost times as he tries to revive his ... South Africa name unchanged squad for England series JOHANNESBURG: South Africa have kept faith with a winning formula by naming an unchanged squad for the three-Test series in England starting next month, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on ...


Saturday, March 26, 2011

Vettori eyes big finale for little guys

Updated at: 1601 PST,  Saturday, March 26, 2011
DHAKA: New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori dismissed suggestions on Saturday that reaching the World Cup semi-finals should be the limit of his team's ambitions."I look at it as an achievement for a country so small that we make so many semi-finals. That's a better way to look at it for a country of four million people," he said. "People may put negative stamps on it but I think it's an achievement for a country like ours."New Zealand came from behind to upset South Africa by 49 runs in Friday's quarter-final at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium, their fourth win over the fancied rivals in six World Cup encounters.Vettori's men, restricted to 221-8 after taking first strike in the day-night match, bundled out South Africa for 172 in an exciting finish.It will be New Zealand's sixth appearance in the semi-finals, where they await the winners of Saturday's match between Sri Lanka and England in Colombo."I think the reputation we have is that we can beat any team on a given day," said Vettori."But consistency has avoided us a lot of the time, so it's our big chance in the semi-finals to go one or two better."Vettori said beating South Africa in a crunch game boosted morale, and praised his side for fighting till the end."Something around 250 would probably have been a really good score, but we knew 221 was defendable and the way we bowled, and particularly the way we fielded, got us through to the victory.""I think when we got de Villiers and Kallis out, we all started to believe we could go all the way, the captain said."Their top four batsmen have proved themselves for a long, long time and have an excellent track record. They also had a long tail. So we had to take wickets."South Africa, often regarded as the best team never to have the World Cup, have lost in three semi-finals, two quarter-finals and once in the first round.