Sharjah: The spotlight will be very much on Daniel Vettori, who will make a surprise return to Test cricket at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
When he walks out on to the field for New Zealand in the final Test here, the 35-year-old will become his country’s most capped player — breaking the record of former skipper Stephen Fleming’s 111 Test matches.
Vettori also played a Test for the World XI in 2005, which takes the tally to 112, but was yet to be officially his country’s most capped player. The left-arm spinner hasn’t played a Test since July 2012 after suffering a series of injuries in recent years.
Vettori, who was already in the UAE playing for the New Zealand A team, started training with the senior team again for the last two days. With 360 Test wickets to his name, Vettori is the second-highest wicket-taker for New Zealand after Richard Hadlee (431).
New Zealand team coach Mike Hesson said Vettori will play in tandem with the current spin duo of Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig.
“From the first two Tests, it’s been pretty clear how important spin is in these conditions and we expect the pitch in Sharjah to be the slowest of all three wickets. The possibility of having three bowlers who can exploit those conditions is an exciting option for us to have,” said Hesson.
Commenting on Vettori’s inclusion, skipper Brendon McCullum said: “We are really excited about it. He is the most capped player with Stephen Fleming and it is a tremendous achievement of which we all are proud off. It is a one-off Test situation for him as he was over here preparing for the One-dayers. We think using three spinners and Vettori being the third one, the workload might not be overly excessive. With the World Cup around, we don’t want to break him in a one-off Test match situation and we think we can certainly manage through that with the other two spinners. James Neesham makes way for Vettori or otherwise it will be an unchanged team.”
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is not surprised by Vettori’s inclusion.
“They [New Zealand] will do every bit to level the series, we know that and every team aspires to win especially when they are 1-0 down. Vettori is an experienced campaigner for them but we have played him before so we know how he bowls. We are aware of the fact that he is experienced so we need to handle him with care. We don’t want such type of players come and get wickets and that’s very important for us.”
Vettori has also played match-winning knocks with the bat against Pakistan.
“Vettori also gives them an advantage as a batsman. We have to concentrate on that and bowl in the right areas and check him as a batsman too.”
McCullum hailed Vettori’s contribution as a player. “He is very experienced player and had strong performances in tough conditions. He can read up the game as well as perform strongly [under] any conditions. Some people might say it is a big risk [to play him] but we had discussions with him.
“Vettori is an optimist as well and he is excited about the opportunity. I am sure he will be a bit nervous as it is couple of years since he donned the black cap but he is a wonderful player. Even if it may be his last one, it will be great fun to play and go out on his terms rather than slide out of his wonderful Test career,” he added.
