At his best, Daniel Vettori wasn’t just one of the most economical bowlers around, but won New Zealand matches with his wickets too
Shiva Jayaraman31-Mar-2015Daniel Vettori took a wicket every 62 balls in international cricket and he took 705 of them. Only one other bowler of those who took at least 60 balls for each of their wickets bowled enough balls to take at least half as many. By the time he called it a day to a career spanning over 18 years, Vettori had bowled 43661 deliveries – the fourth-most anyone had bowled in international cricket. Among New Zealand bowlers, only Richard Hadlee bowled at least as many deliveries as Vettori did.Vettori took 305 ODI wickets, the most by any left-arm spinner apart from Sanath Jayasuriya, who picked up 323. Vettori took 297 playing for New Zealand – eight of his wickets came playing for the ICC XI – the most by anyone from his country. Outside Asia, in conditions generally regarded as not conducive to spin, Vettori took 228 wickets – Shane Warne (237) is the only spinner with more wickets in these conditions.Vettori’s value to the New Zealand ODI team was not as much as a strike bowler as it was in drying up the runs for the opposition. Among spinners to bowl at least 1000 overs in ODIs since 1997 – the year he made his debut for New Zealand as the youngest to play for his country – only two others – Muttiah Muralitharan and Mohammad Hafeez – have managed to be more economical. In more than half of the ODIs in which Vettori bowled at least five overs, he finished with an economy rate of four or less. His percentage of such innings is the fourth-highest among spinners who have bowled at least five overs in 100 or more ODIs.
Spinner Inns eco <=4 %Mohammad Hafeez 116 66 56.9Muttiah Muralitharan 328 183 55.8Ravi Shastri 119 64 53.8Daniel Vettori 255 131 51.4Shane Warne 188 89 47.3Saeed Ajmal 106 49 46.2Vettori took on the role of strike bowler for his team on a fair number of occasions too. When Vettori took more than two wickets in an ODI, New Zealand won more often than not: 26 of his 32 hauls of three wickets or more in ODIs came in wins. Among spinners with 20 or more three-plus-wicket hauls, Vettori's win percentage in those matches is the fourth-best – a significant achievement considering he didn't always play for a New Zealand side that was as strong as the one that played the World Cup. No surprisingly, Vettori averaged nearly 20 runs less in wins than when his team didn't win. He took 188 wickets in wins at an average of 24.04 and 117 at 44.05 in other ODIs.
Spinner 3+ wkts in wins 3+ wkts total %Brad Hogg 23 24 95.8Shahid Afridi 39 42 92.8Shane Warne 32 38 84.2Ajantha Mendis 22 27 81.4Daniel Vettori 26 32 81.2Anil Kumble 22 29 75.8Muttiah Muralitharan 51 68 75.0Sanath Jayasuriya 24 33 72.7Saqlain Mushtaq 34 48 70.8Abdur Razzak 21 30 70.0Vettori was at his very best in the middle years of his ODI career – from 2003 to 2010 – when he took 196 of his 305 ODI wickets at an average of 27.90. During these years, he was the second-highest wicket-taker in ODIs among spinners after Muralitharan and among 55 bowlers who bowled at least 3000 deliveries during this period, of whom only three – Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath and Ray Price – were more economical. He took both his five-fors and five of his four-wicket hauls during these years including 5 for 7 in an ODI against Bangladesh in 2007 – one of the best match figures by a captain in ODIs. Vettori was hampered by injuries during the last part of his career – he played only 47 of the 109 ODIs New Zealand played since 2010 – but was still was one of the most economical bowlers. Among bowlers who bowled at least 200 overs since 2010, he was one of only two with an economy rate below four runs an over, the other being Mohammad Hafeez.
Span Mat Wkts BBI Ave Econ 4w/5wTill 2002 95 81 4/24 39.36 4.48 2/02003-2010 168 196 5/7 27.90 3.96 5/22011-retirement 32 28 4/18 36.25 4.03 1/0Vettori’s ODI career culminated with the 2015 World Cup, in which he was one of the best spinners, if not bowlers, on display. Vettori bowled one of the best restrictive spells of the tournament in the league game against Australia. He finished the tournament as the most economical spinner (minimum ten overs). His 15 wickets – equalling the most by any spinner in the World Cup – ensured he also ended his career as the spinner with the second-highest number of wickets in World Cups.Vettori played his last Test in November last year, after a two-year gap. It was his 112th Test, which made him the most capped New Zealand Test player ever, ahead of Stephen Fleming. His 361 Test wickets for New Zealand are the second-highest after Richard Hadlee’s 431. Among spinners, Vettori ended up as the fifth-highest wicket-taker, and the only left-arm orthodox spinner with 300 Test wickets. He is one of only three non-subcontinent spinners – the others being Shane Warne and Clarrie Grimmett – to take 20 or more five-wicket hauls in Tests.Vettori reserved his best for New Zealand’s trans-Tasman rival, taking 65 wickets in 18 Tests against them when playing for New Zealand (he took one wicket in the only Test he played against them for ICC World XI). Among New Zealand bowlers, only Richard Hadlee took more wickets against the Australians than Vettori, though Hadlee took twice as many wickets in just five more Tests.Vettori’s career-high in Tests came against Australia in Auckland in 1999-00, when he took 12 for 149, taking five-fors in both innings and becoming the youngest spinner and the second-youngest bowler after Kapil Dev to 100 Test wickets. This was also the first time that a spinner had taken two five-fors in a Test against Australia outside the subcontinent in 23 years. Vettori ended his career with six five-wicket hauls in Tests against Australia. Only five other spinners had as many or more such hauls against them.As in ODIs, the middle part of Vettori’s Test career was his best. Between 2004 and 2008 he took 136 wickets at 30.12, including 11 of his 20 Test five-fors. Two of his three ten-wicket hauls came in this period, including a 12-wicket haul against Bangladesh in Chittagong. He took five five-fors in 2008, which equalled the most five-fors by any bowler that year and with 54 wickets from 14 Tests was thesecond-highest wicket-taker among spinners in that calendar year.
Span Mat Wkts BBI BBM Ave SR 5w/10wTill 2000 31 106 7/87 12/149 32.61 78.20 5/12001-2003 19 44 6/87 8/229 43.40 88.70 2/02004-2008 39 136 7/130 12/170 30.12 68.90 11/2Since 2009 24 76 5/70 8/141 39.15 95.20 2/0Vettori made significant contributions with the bat as well in Tests with 4531 runs at an average of 30.00. He is one of the three players in Tests with 4000 runs and 300 wickets and the only spinner among them. He hit four hundreds and 2227 runs batting at No. 8 in Tests – both the best by anyone from that position. He produced his best against Pakistan, scoring three hundreds and one fifty in nine Tests.He captained New Zealand in 32 Tests – the third-highest but was not very successful at it, losing 16 of them. His win-loss ratio of 0.375 as captain is one of the worst among Test captains who have led in 30 or more Tests. Four of his six Test wins came against Bangladesh. His 9 for 133 against them in Chittagong in 2008 are the best bowling figures by a New Zealand captain in Tests.
