A tribute to Daniel Vettori on his 38th birthday

#2 A smart spinner

Vettori relied on accuracy and variations to pick up wickets

Turning the ball viciously was never his forte, he was more reliant on accuracy. Other successful spinners like Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan were famous for troubling the batsmen with their turning balls but Vettori was more in the league of Anil Kumble, who also did not bowl too many deliveries that turned.

Without the turn, he had several variations in his armoury. He had a nice approach to the crease with a very swift action. The biggest variations were in his trajectory that sometimes deceived the batsmen in flight and foxed them with the quicker arm ball the other times.

The leg before wicket was his most useful mode of picking wickets which is due to his impressive accuracy.