Indian summer likely target for king of spin
DANIEL Vettori does not expect to be back in the Black Caps until the later stages of the home international summer of cricket.
The former Black Caps skipper marked his long-awaited return to the first-class arena with a fivewicket bag for the Northern Knights against the Auckland Aces in Hamilton yesterday.
But Vettori, while making great strides in his recovery from a second operation on an Achilles tendon injury, still wants to tread warily for a while yet.
The 34-year-old said the visit of the West Indies in December was likely to be too early for him to return to the Black Caps.
‘‘I need to do this day in, day out for a long time,’’ Vettori said after taking 5-39 off 22 overs at Seddon Park to give the Knights a slight advantage midway through the four-day encounter.
‘‘I still think I’m a wee way away from overall fitness and conditioning. The goal is to plug away for ND for at least a little while.
‘‘I think Ish [Sodhi] did really well in Bangladesh and they’ll want to persevere with him.’’
New Zealand will play three tests – the first starting on December 3 in Dunedin – five one-day internationals and two Twenty20s against the West Indies. ‘‘I think that’s probably pushing it a bit too soon to think that I could get back for a test match,’’ Vettori said.
‘‘Even before I had surgery, [NZ coach] Mike Hesson was trying to map out this season with me and probably looking at the back end of India.’’ India will begin their tour in mid-January.
Vettori took four of his wickets yesterday while bowling with the second new ball after a brief stint from the Knights’ pacemen.
His first wicket earlier was Craig Cachopa and with the new ball he trapped Colin de Grandhomme, Bruce Martin and Dean Bartlett lbw before clinching the five-wicket bag by getting Matt Quinn caught close in on the offside. ‘‘It’s always nice to get wickets, but the big thing for me was getting through overs and starting to feel good about the bowling,’’ Vettori said. ‘‘I’ve always enjoyed bowling with a newer ball as it skids on or holds up and I hit some good areas today.’’
Vettori backed up a strong effort from the Knights’ seamers to leave Auckland trailing the hosts by 38 runs at stumps on day two in their first innings, with one wicket remaining.