Record-breaking New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori says the timing isn’t right to officially announce his retirement from Test cricket.
Vettori’s 112th Test for New Zealand, and quite possibly his last, was their innings and 80-run defeat of Pakistan in the third Test in Sharjah.
However, the 35-year-old didn’t want to claim any limelight following the death on Thursday of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, which had impacted heavily on Vettori and his teammates.
“I suppose the current timing, what’s happened in the last few days, it doesn’t feel appropriate to make a big statement, so I thought that I’d just sit back and enjoy the Test win as much as I can,” he said.
Vettori moved ahead of the 111 Tests played by another former captain, Stephen Fleming, to be the record holder for New Zealand caps.
His two wickets in Sharjah lift him to 361 Test scalps. The figure is 362 if a Test for a World XI against Australia in 2005 is included.
He hadn’t played a Test for more than two years because of a variety of injuries and believed any return to international cricket would be in the limited-overs form, with an eye on next year’s World Cup.
“In my mind, there wasn’t any more Test cricket in the future, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to retire when I had been out of the team so long,” he said.
“It was probably easier to just disappear, but this opportunity over the last few days has been special.”
Left-arm spinner Vettori was included in the New Zealand A squad for a series of one-day matches in the United Arab Emirates.
He was surprised when called on by New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum to play the third Test, immediately questioning whether his fitness was up to Test requirements.
However, he felt he couldn’t say no and asked wife Mary to promptly post his Test cap to Sharjah.
“I was lucky that it made it here in time. It wouldn’t have felt quite right to play a Test match not in this cap,” he said.
“It has seen a lot of games and a lot of good times and a lot of hard times, so it’s very special to me.”
