Vettori out as New Zealand elect to field against Scotland

Vettori out as New Zealand elect to field against Scotland 6 Jun 2009, 1810 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM

NEW DELHI: Kiwi stand-in skipper Brendon McCullum elected to bowl in their rain-curtailed World T20 opener against Scotland, which will be a seven-over-a-side game, at Kennington Oval in London. There is a bad news for New Zealand as skipper Daniel Vettori has had an injection on his injured shoulder and won’t be playing this match as Brendon McCullum will lead the team in his absence. For years now in One-day cricket New Zealand have punched above their weight and their quality was on show this week when they beat defending World Twenty20 champions India by nine runs in a warm-up match at Lord's. In wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum they have one of the most dynamic batsmen in world cricket and captain Daniel Vettori remains arguably world cricket's pre-eminent left-arm spinner in all forms of the game. Of all the three Associate nations taking part in this tournament, Scotland look least equipped to cause an upset. Having failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup in Asia, a major blow to their morale, Scotland will be desperate to show in some way that they are deserving of a place on the big stage. Squads (From): New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (wkt), Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan, Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor Scotland: Gavin Hamilton (capt), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Kyle Coetzer, Gordon Drummond, Majid Haq, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Navdeep Poonia, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith (wkt), Jan Stander, Ryan Watson, Fraser Watts, Craig Wright