Batsmen giving away their wickets cheaply could cost us at World Cup: Daniel Vettori

Daniel Vettori

New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori has urged his teammates to not give away their wickets courtesy run-outs and said that if the batsmen can keep themselves occupied for a longer period of time in the middle, they can take that same single run with a lot more ease later on.

"A top-six batsman should never get run out. I think it's a waste of dismissal just for the sake of one run. If those guys can stay there as long as possible they will make up that single at some stage," Vettori said.

"There's certainly no joy at the amount of run outs and it's not something we want to continue. It really has to stop because it could cost us an important game," he added.

Vettori, who became the most capped Black Caps player in both Tests and ODIs on Sunday, said that Kane Williamson’s run-out in the 6th ODI against Sri Lanka was unnecessary, considering that he and Ross Taylor had put on 117 runs for the third wicket. He also admitted that it is difficult to simulate such situations while training.

"It is, and it isn't [easy to remedy]. There's different times throughout a game, pressure situations where the running becomes a little bit more difficult.

"But when we're in a good position and playing as well as Ross and Kane were, then it's not the thing that needs to be done at that stage," the 36-year-old said.

However, the former New Zealand captain expressed his pleasure at the way the bowlers and fielders backed up the batsmen and put up a solid effort on the field.

“What everyone wants to see is when you're under pressure what you can come up with. Particularly on Friday we saw that in abundance and a little bit [on Sunday]. The wicket was tricky early and they bowled exceptionally well.

“For Kane and Ross to get us to that score, and sticking to a gameplan of those two batting through the middle stages and trying to set it up for Corey and Luke at the end, we saw the game plan work again and that's very satisfying,” he concluded.