Daniel Luca Vettori (born 27 January 1979) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
er who played for the
New Zealand national cricket team
The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...
. He was the 200th player to win their
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...
cap for New Zealand.
Vettori was the youngest male player to have represented New Zealand in Test cricket, making his debut in February 1997 at the age of 18. He captained New Zealand between 2007 and 2011 and is New Zealand's most-capped Test cricketer and
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...
cricketer, with 112 Test caps and 291 ODI caps. A bowling
all-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...
, Vettori was the eighth player in Test cricket history to take 300 wickets and score 3,000 runs.
A slow
left-arm orthodox spin
Left-arm orthodox spin, Left-arm off spin also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of left-arm finger spin bowling in the sport of cricket.
Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left-arm bowler using the fingers to spin ...
bowler, Vettori was known for his accuracy, flight and guile rather than prodigious turn. Vettori announced his retirement from all forms of cricket following the
2015 Cricket World Cup
The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by ...
. He has since coached in a variety of roles.
Career
Vettori was born in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
and brought up in Hamilton, attending Marian School and later St. Paul's Collegiate School. He was initially a medium-pace bowler, but slowly transitioned to bowl
off spin
Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which s ...
deliveries. He made his senior debut for Northern Districts in 1996/97 and his international debut during England's 1997 tour of New Zealand at the age of 18, at the time the youngest man to play Test cricket for New Zealand. He took his first international
five-wicket haul
In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman.
Ta ...
against
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
in March of the same year.
He was among a very small minority of international sports stars to wear prescription
spectacles
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples or ...
while playing sport, and only one of very few cricketers in the modern era to play
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...
with spectacles.
Captaincy
Prior to becoming captain on a permanent basis in 2007, Vettori had captained New Zealand in ODI cricket on occasion. He captained New Zealand at the inaugural
Twenty20 World Championship
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...
in South Africa and subsequently was appointed the team's captain in all formats.
Vettori's captaincy began with a losing Test series in England and attracted some criticism during the ODI series which followed. He had shouted from the balcony at
The Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
following a controversial run out and later refused to shake hands with the England team after the match. This approach contrasted with Fleming's more languid, laid back style.
Vettori stood down from the captaincy and retired from One day International and Twenty20 International cricket after the 2011 World Cup. He was recalled into the ODI team for the
2013 ICC Champions Trophy
The 2013 ICC Champions Trophy was the seventh ICC Champions Trophy, a One Day International cricket tournament held in England and Wales between 6 and 23 June 2013.
India won the competition, beating England by five runs in the final after over ...
and the 2015 Cricket World Cup, by which time he had retired from Test cricket, his final Test match was as an emergency injury replacement against Pakistan in November 2014.
Richard Hadlee
Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers.
Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 19 ...
. As of August 2022 his 362 Test wickets lies second only to Hadlee and he is New Zealand's leading
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...
wicket-taker with 297 dismissals for the national side.
Vettori was the first left-arm spin bowler to take more than 300 wickets in both Test matches and One Day Internationals.
He was the youngest man to take 100 Test wickets, doing so by the age of 21. In 2005, 2008 and 2010 he was named in the World ODI XI by the
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...
and was named in the team of the tournament for the
2015 Cricket World Cup
The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by ...
.
Vettori took 20
five-wicket haul
In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman.
Ta ...
s in Test matches, including taking
ten wickets in a match
In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used.
Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bow ...
three times. His best innings figures were achieved in Auckland in 1999–2000 against Australia where he took 7/87; he finished with career best-match figures of 12/149, the second best by a New Zealander at the time. As of August 2022 these match figures remain the third-best ever by a New Zealander, with only
Ajaz Patel
Ajaz Yunus Patel (born 21 October 1988) is a New Zealand cricketer who plays for Central Districts in domestic cricket. Patel is a slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler. He made his international debut for the New Zealand cricket team in October 2 ...
and Richard Hadlee having taken better figures in a match. He also took 12 wickets against Bangladesh 2004 and 10 against Sri Lanka in 2006. He took two five-wicket hauls in One Day International matches.
Batting
Vettori developed into a useful lower-order
batsman
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...
, scoring more than 4,500 Test runs, including six centuries. Although it took him 47 Tests to score his first 1,000 runs at an average of 17.24, the second thousand took just 22 Tests at an average of 42.52 per innings. His highest Test score of 140 came against Sri Lanka at Singhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground,
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
in August 2009.
Coaching career
Vettori was head coach of
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Royal Challengers Bangalore (often abbreviated as RCB) are a franchise cricket team based in Bangalore, Karnataka, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was founded in 2008 by United Spirits and named after the company's liquor ...
in the
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as Tata Group, TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 cricket, T20 Professional sports league organization, franchise cricket Sports league, league of India. It is annually contested by ...
from 2014 to 2018. In July 2019, Vettori was appointed as the head coach of the Dublin Chiefs in the first season of the
Euro T20 Slam
The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...
cricket tournament; the tournament was later cancelled. The same month, he became the spin bowling coach for the Bangladesh national side. In August 2021 Vettori was appointed as the head coach of the
Caribbean Premier League
The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...
Vettori is of Italian origin. He married Mary O'Carroll in 2007; the couple have three children. He moved from Hamilton to Auckland after his marriage but continued to play for Northern Districts throughout his career. Vettori was made an Officer of the
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...
in the
2011 Queen's Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,David Hill, a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
player who played in one Test for the
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 198 ...
.
A biography of Vettori entitled ''Turning Point'' was published in August 2008.Boock, R. (2008) ''Daniel Vettori: Turning Point'', Hodder Moa