At the post-match presentations in New Zealand Stephen Fleming was invariably asked the same two questions

Peter English31-Mar-2005

Daniel Vettori: a class act among pedestrians© Getty Images
At the post-match presentations in New Zealand Stephen Fleming was invariably asked the same two questions. The first was always how to improve on some dire performances in their heavy losses to Australia. The second – without fail – was about their only world-class performer.”And what about Dan Vettori?”There was no need to trumpet his figures or embellish his performance. Fleming would exhale in relief that he had him – or that he was getting him back when he missed a one-dayer. Vettori, on the other hand, may not be as grateful for his team-mates. The batsmen rarely give him enough runs to show his true value and the bowlers fail to take the top-order wickets, forcing him into defence instead of attack.Vettori is New Zealand’s Andy Flower – each man has done great things, getting by with little help from their friends. Richard Hadlee at least had Martin Crowe, Courtney Walsh held hands with Curtly Ambrose andBrian Lara, and Muttiah Muralitharan delivered around Aravinda de Silva before Sri Lanka’s new breed arrived. For New Zealand, Fleming occasionally approached world-class form but has recently slipped away, so Vettori is left with nobody.Spin bowlers need support, mainly from their fast bowlers, but also from their slow-bowling colleagues and their batsmen. Vettori, however, is handed scraps when he deserves to be waited upon. His team-mates have let a great bowler be reclassified merely as good. He has lugged their weight almost since debuting against England in 1996-97. A spot in the World XI for the Super Series Test against Australia may be his only chance of getting the allround polish he’s been lacking for 62 Tests.Still only 26 and four away from 200 wickets, Vettori’s brilliance is shown in his constant threat against Australia. Without a five-wicket haul since the drawn series in 2001-02, he dusted his fingers with three in Bangladesh and has since recorded two against the world champions. Left-arm spin, like the Kiwis’ tendency to ignore Test cricket, befuddles Australians. Phil Tufnell managed it occasionally, Murali Kartik turned one-off rings around them at Mumbai last year, but Vettori does it regularly. And yey his side is rarely on top.

Vettori: back problems have hampered his effectiveness © Getty Images
Vettori can’t stand the Harry Potter comparisons, yet he’s the closest New Zealand have to a wizard. The glasses and the teasing curls add to the look, but his effectiveness is in concreting the feet of Australia’s batsmen while twirling them into tentativeness. In 13 Tests he has taken 51 wickets against them, including half of his 12 five-wicket hauls and one of his two 10-wicket collections, at an average of 33.45 – two runs per wicket better than his career mark. Australians figure highly on his all-time list of dismissals. Shane Warne comes top on nine, Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn are second on five, and Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer sit one spot further back.Australia’s plan rested on seeing him off in the one-dayers and trying for some sort of aggressive retribution during the Tests. Only Gilchrist managed it – spectacularly. The problem for Australia – and for Vettori’s worrisome lower back – was that he bowled more as his peers were attacked. In four of the past eight innings he delivered more than 40 overs, and fatigue and familiarity contributed to his home series tailing off. He was visibly affected by the injury and the lack of early-innings support from his fast men on seaming pitches.Much of his time over the past two Australia series has been spent walking back to his mark, head in the air with arms dangling waiting for the next appeal. Vettori is both a delight and a pain to watch. A man stranded with many sparkling but unused utensils, he is too often bowling to the openers on pitches suited to pace.The World XI’s opponents make Vettori an attractive option for the Super Series Test at the SCG in October. Unlike his five main rivals for two possible spin berths – all of whom are above his ICC ranking of16 – Vettori has never faced them on raging turners. Only Danish Kaneria and Anil Kumble come close to Vettori’s record in Australia, with 29 wickets at 37 in eight Tests.Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh and Ashley Giles have four Tests between them in Australia while Vettori has punched into them regularly. Taking six wickets in his first series, he had at least 10 in each of his next three. By early March, he had eight in three innings against Australia before going wicketless in the final match. He has never played Australia in more than three Tests and his record against the best deserves to be recognised.If Australia have Shane Warne coming on behind McGrath, Gillespie, Kasprowicz or Lee, then the World XI needs something that can scare their one-off rival. Vettori will do it over any length of spell and is the best slow-bowling option. It is an issue Sunil Gavaskar and his fellow selectors, who choose the squad in the coming weeks, should be raising as often as Fleming’s interviewers.