Daniel Vettori

Daniel Luca Vettori is a professional cricketer who is the current captain of the New Zealand national cricket team. In the Test cricket history of New Zealand the youngest player to have represented New Zealand is Daniel Vettori. He is a slow left arm orthodox spinner who is not reputed for pinpoint accuracy or colossal turn but for the flight and guile. At present, he will be playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore at IPL 5 season 2012.

On 6th February 1997 while playing against England at Wellington, Vettori made his Test debut. Nasser Hussain was his first Test wicket. On 25th March 1997 while playing at Christchurch against Sri Lanka he made his One day International debut.

Vettori suffered a major back injury in 2000 which almost brought a stop to his cricketing career, however he recovered and played a crucial role in the triumph of New Zealand in the 2004 Tri-series in England where the other teams were West Indies and England.

In 2005 while playing against Zimbabwe he took his 200th Test wicket and became just the third bowler from New Zealand to attain this mark after Richard Hadlee and Chris Cairns. In Test cricket Vettori has taken the wicket of Shane Warne nine times and is the bowler to have dismissed Warne most frequently.

When the regular captain was unavailable in the team Vettori became a temporary captain for the New Zealand team. In 2007 he became a captain on a permanent basis. At the inaugural Twenty20 Championship in South Africa also he was the captain of the Black Caps.

Along with being a bowler Vettori has scored many half centuries and 2000 Test runs that comprised of two centuries (127 in 2005 against Zimbabwe and 137 in 2003 against Pakistan). In December 2006 in the one day series against Sri Lanka Vettori started to establish himself as an all rounder by coming in to bat at the number 5 position for New Zealand.

In 2008 Vettori was also a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in which he represented the Delhi Daredevils team.

Career Highlights

He is the youngest player to have represented New Zealand in Test cricket, having made his debut in 1996/1997 at the age of 18.

He is currently placed third on the all-time New Zealand table for most ODI wickets. As of 10 March 2008 Vettori was ranked 1st on the ICC Player Rankings for One Day bowlers and ranked 2nd and 10th for Test and One Day all-rounders respectively.