We had the worst of conditions, says Vettori

Vadodara: Moments after conceding the ODI series to India today, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said that his team had to bat in the most trying of conditions in the morning.

“We got the worst of the conditions. The wicket was incredibly difficult. It was damp, the ball was seaming and spinning big. But that’s what happens in cricket. We have to make up for it,” Vettori said after his team’s nine-wicket defeat to India in the third one-dayer here. “(James) Franklin and Nathan (McCullum) played exceptionally well and gave us a chance but in the end (when India batted) the wicket had dried up and played a lot better,” Vettori added.At one stage the Kiwis, put in to bat by India captain Gautam Gambhir, were in danger of being bowled out for their lowest total, at the Reliance Cricket Stadium, before James Franklin (72 not out) and Nathan McCullum (43) stemmed the rot guiding the visitors to a respectable 224 for nine. “The wicket was difficult and we could not attack. The couple of times I thought we put pressure on them was when we played our best, particularly Franklin.”The New Zealand skipper also conceded that he was in two minds on what to do if had won the toss. “It was 50-50,” he said about his feeling before the toss. Vettori said the batsmen were not putting enough runs on the board for the bowlers to make a difference. “We are not winning. We are bowling as well as we can but we have not enough scores that are competitive in one-day cricket. “We are disappointed with the way we have been playing. Not happy. We need one of us to score big or get lot of wickets,” he said. PTI