Vaibhav AroraIt was an unforgettable moment for world cricket’s unsung hero Daniel Vettori, as he captured his 300th wicket during the second Test against Sri Lanka, to join an elite club of men who have the rare distinction of 300 wickets and 3000 runs in Test cricket to their credit.
It was an occasion that largely went unnoticed both by the press and the fans. But that was hardly a surprise, considering that whatever this bespectacled player has achieved over the past decade since he made his Test debut, against England back in 1997, has been overshadowed by one or the other ‘more important’ events happening during the same time.
Some might say that he lacks the style, elegance and panache of some of the other contemporary stars, but his contribution in taking New Zealand cricket forward almost single handedly can never be overlooked.
It may be easier for a spinner from a country like India, who play a lot of Test cricket, to claim numerous victims but for someone from New Zealand to have scaled the summit almost seems surreal. The achievement looks even more impressive in view of the fact that before Vettori, there had been only one Kiwi spinner to have crossed the 100 wickets mark, John Bracewell.
It hasn’t been an easy journey for the lefty with more dark spots than bright patches surrounding his career. From more than often out-of-form spells to fitness issues, there have been a number of nuisances along the way. But he has persevered like an unrelenting man on a mission. Vettori is well past his first goal in cricket, which he had put at claiming 100 Test victims, and is tantalizingly close to his second target of playing 100 Tests. But anyone who thought he was going to stop at that will have to be in the opposition.
New Zealand cricket has struggled to produce world class players over the past few years, which has been a major reason behind Vettori being unable to realize his full potential. Quite often, the seamers have failed to provide early breakthroughs that a spinner badly needs to weave his magic, while on other occasions, the batsmen have let the team down. But that hasn’t bothered this lanky player even a bit, as he has gone from strength to strength, often taking his team to safety all by himself.
Though there have been injuries leading to more than usually long dry spells, the most painful of them has been three years without a single five wicket haul.Vettori’s credentials as a world class spinner gain strength if one takes a look at his one-day performance, where he has been one of the frontline spinners to have carried the legacy of spin-bowling forward. He may not turn the ball by miles, but the ability to vary his pace and contain the batsman has fetched him the tag of New Zealand’s highest ODI wicket taker. In T20 too, which is largely a batsman’s game, he has bowled at an impressive economy rate of 5.50.
Going by his workhorse quality, the record for New Zealand’s highest Test wicket taker, currently held by Sir Richard Hadlee, with 431 wickets, does not seem too far and going by the present form it will not be a question of if he can, but on, does he want to play long enough to achieve it.
