Dan earns record NZ ODI cap 280 in 6th ANZ ODI.

Vettori quietly satisfied with milestone

Posted Monday, 26 January, 2015 in International News

When Daniel Vettori was selected to play Sri Lanka at Dunedin's University Oval in the sixth ANZ ODI v Sri Lanka, he earned his 280th ODI cap for the BLACKCAPS*, and passed Stephen Fleming to become the most-capped ODI player ever for New Zealand.

Fittingly, Vettori earned his first ODI cap against the same opposition way back in 1997, with figures of none for 21 from his two overs. Since then he has earned a reputation as one of classiest, wiliest ODI bowlers around, as a career economy rate of 4.11 testifies. His game also developed into a long-serving captain and batsman that has saved his side many times, joining the exclusive 200 wicket and 2000 ODI run club in the process.

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Throwback - Vettori takes the field in an ODI v England in 2001.

"To play for such a long period of time and to put those milestones together (Dan recently became the most-capped Test BLACKCAP also) is pleasing, particularly as a spin bowler in New Zealand, where conditions aren't always conducive to bowling spin because of the grounds and the nature of the wickets, so to be able to hold the record for Test matches and one dayers is very pleasing," said Vettori.

After being an ever present in the side for well over a decade, the wear and tear of professional cricket meant that from 2013 Vettori declined an NZC contract in an effort to get his body right with a view to playing ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

"I think the main concern for me and everyone was being able to get through the games of cricket, and it's been nearly four months of nearly non-stop cricket (since making a return in the ANZ ODI series v South Africa), I've played a lot of games and bowled a lot of overs and I'm feeling pretty good, the body's feeling good, there haven't been any niggles, and with still a fair amount of cricket to go including the World Cup, I'm fairly confident I'll get through it."

With the ANZ ODI Series now wrapped up the BLACKCAPS are on a decent run of form, but Vettori isn't getting carried away. "I think what everyone wants to see is when you're under pressure, what you can come up with, and we saw that on Friday in abundance and a little bit today (6th ANZ ODI). Kane and Ross, batting to a game plan to get us to that score and set it up for Corey and Luke at the end, the plan worked again, it's very satisfying."

And looking forward to the big tournament, Vettori sees it as wide open.

"It's the usual suspects - if you went to all the top eight nations around the world, they think they have a chance of winning the World Cup, and looking at all the other team's strengths. We've seen in previous World Cups that quite often the underdog can quite often come through.

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