Vettori's date with history

STACY SQUIRES/The Press

EXCITED: Daniel Vettori is relishing the prospect of taking on South Africa in South Africa in his maiden outing as New Zealand test captain.

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Daniel Vettori could have been forgiven for cursing his luck after discovering his maiden outing as New Zealand test captain would take place on one of world cricket's toughest frontiers.

On the contrary, the new Black Caps skipper is full of excitement and anticipation as he counts down the days until the first test against South Africa at Johannesburg on Thursday week.

New Zealand have never beaten South Africa in a test series and will be clear underdogs when they open their campaign at the Wanderers.

If this was troubling Vettori, though, he wasn't showing it on the first two days of New Zealand's warm-up match against an Invitation XI at Bloemfontein, where he spared his specialist batsmen's blushes with a first innings of 99, before taking the final three wickets when the South Africans batted.

His all-round effort, together with a cluster of sound performances from his most senior lieutenants, ensured a more than useful start for the tourists, who had grabbed a 162-run first-innings lead at stumps on the second day.

The Black Caps completed a three-day rout early this morning (NZ time), winning the match by 216 runs with the home side dismissed for 91.

The Caps have been treating this match as a serious outing not a tune-up.

"We haven't seen any first-class cricket for a long time, so we want to play competitive cricket and win this game," strike bowler Shane Bond said after claiming 1-23 off 14 overs in the first innings.

Vettori, who will become the first front-line bowler since Harry Cave to be the country's fulltime test captain, can hardly wait for the Wanderers' match to arrive - despite the degree of difficulty expected.

"I'm looking forward to it and I'll be trying to keep a fun element about it, even though we'll be deadly serious about trying to win," he told the Sunday Star- Times.

"It's probably the hardest challenge for any new test captain but I'm pretty excited because when you look at the senior players I have around me - guys like Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Shane Bond and Stephen Fleming - I think there's lot to be positive about."

Vettori could thank his more experienced team-mates for helping New Zealand make a relatively sound start at Goodyear Park, although no progress was made on the vexed opening combination, and rookie batsman Ross Taylor was dismissed for 12.

On the other hand, Fleming (33), Scott Styris (29), Oram (23), McCullum (46), Vettori and Bond (28) all spent valuable time in the middle, before New Zealand enjoyed a fruitful period in the field.

Bond and Chris Martin made inroads at the top of the order, Oram starred with a four-wicket haul, McCullum won praise for his glovework and Vettori brought himself into the attack just in time to snare the final three wickets, including that of the top-scorer and likely test opener, Ahmed Amla.

It was a compelling start to his new role, and the sort of performance he believes will be required in 11 day's time.

"The best strategy for me initially will simply be about leading by example," he said.

"The best captains are usually the ones who are performing impressively in their specialist role anyway - just look at skippers like Ricky Ponting and Mahela Jayawardene."

Vettori said he and his team- mates were well aware of New Zealand's historical struggles against South Africa and were under no illusion about the size of the task.

"This is a very hard nut to crack - I think most of us appreciate how difficult it is to beat South Africa on their home turf," he said.

"They almost live off the history of our rivalry. The fact that we've never been able to win a series against them, it galvanises them, it drives them on.

"They don't want to be the first South African team to lose to New Zealand."

- © Fairfax NZ News