Is undoubtedly, Daniel Vettori.
Check it, the mans just had a sensational test match against Bangladesh, might not warrant for much, but the Kiwis were in a spot of bother at one stage before Vettori saved their asses, AGAIN.
Daniel, glasses and all, is a man who carries his entire countries fortunes, at least the cricketing ones, on his back.
Dan Vettori is New Zealand. New Zealand is Dan Vettori. ( KingCricket thinks its got something to do with his glasses.)
To drive home this point, picture the Kiwis without him. They would be no better than Bangladesh.
It really would be a battle of the minnows.
He does everything.
His bowling is brilliant. Proper world class.
His batting is a comical collection of good shots, ugliness and excruciatingly frustrating blocking. But it gets the job done.
The captaincy has not affected his cricketing ability one bit. When Stephen Fleming stepped down it left a huge void. He was someone everyone looked up to and not too many can remember a time when Flemming dint captain New Zealand.
Vettori stepped up. His batting and bowling averages are a huge contrast to his career figures as captain.
With the bat he averages 41 from his usual 27. With the ball its down to 30 from 33. He is rated the 2nd best all rounder in test cricket by the ICC.
Add to all this the fucker is only 27. That’s at least another good 8-10 years in the big league.
He is not afraid of a scrap either.
With some new stars coming into the team the Kiwis are currently in the process of developing into a good team
There is no better man to lead them through this haze of changing landscapes in world cricket.
Plus the ladies just adore him.
Harry Potteresque, Nerd or just plain old guy next door, what ever you may be Daniel,
Under rated, you are no longer.
How many 5WIs do you think Vettori has in the 4th innings of a test?
I think 1 or 2 mate, but whats the point you are trying to make ?
Once.
Back in early 1997 (11 ½ years ago) in his 4th test.
Since then, on several occasions, we have been unable to defend 4th innings totals of 250+. In theory, spinners come into their own at that stage of a match.
My point is that he is not under-rated; quite the reverse.
So you actually think Dan’s overrated?
Thats a bit harsh. I think he has done tremendously well whenever he has played.
With the bat and with the ball.
And he has done incredibly well whenever he has played abroad. His overseas records are far greater to him home.
Maybe his 4th innings performances are not that good cuz he never truly had a consistent support bowler ? He cant do it all by himself ey ?
“Again”… that’s the point isn’t it… he has been doing that for over a year now! He is under-rated… especially as a spinner.
LOL poor guy. He’s like the Lara of NZ.
Nice read, Vettori is pretty dam good but he just doesn’t want to become popular i guess.
scorpicity> Exactly. I think its about time Dan got his reps.
Sachintha> Lara was never under rated ?
Sachith> Thanks mate. Well with performances like this its hard to keep his name hidden for too long !
i think he is neither under rated nor over rated…
however be his histrionic with bat his prime job is to bowl spin…
how can one explain bangladesh posting 250 odd runs when top order score looks like 33, 6, 6, 0, 6…
in fourth innings…that is…
i am with lb on this…
I’ve never really understood Vettori. His reputation in Australia is far greater than his stats, mostly because he’s done unusually well against Australia.
But his batting is good. He should bat middle order.
Check out the 2nd test at Old Trafford from earlier this year.
5 wickets in the first innings.
Then with NZ defending ~300 he bowled pies (1/110 or something).
And that’s not isolated.
No Damith Lara was never under-rated. What I meant is while he is consistantly bowling (and batting) well, he’s left alone to do all the work.
Just like Lara had to…
Remember Lara scoring close to 700 runs in 3 match series and still going down 0-3?
Surely it got to be Murali Karthik or Yuvraj Singh
see they ignore us all the time but they can’t no longer because we are fighting back