Howzat for a property purchase?

Good fortune allowed Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori to make a successful phone bid. Photo / Supplied

Captain an international cricket side and buy a house - it was all in a day's work for Daniel Vettori who bought a plush Auckland pad while taking on the Aussies.

The Black Caps skipper said it was luck - good and bad - that allowed him and wife Mary O'Carroll to place a phone bid for the St Heliers house.

Vettori's side lost before the end of the final day of the five-day test against Australia in Hamilton in March, allowing him to make the call.

"My wife and I looked at [the house] a while ago and decided we liked it but I couldn't be there for the auction," he said. "Unfortunately we lost early, but it meant I could be on the phone.

"We were lucky it worked out. If the game had been full-on I couldn't have been there."

Vettori and his wife, who welcomed their first son James last year, sold their Remuera home almost six weeks after buying the St Heliers property. He would not divulge how much they paid, but it is understood to be about $1.7million.

The house, near St Heliers Village, sits on an 809sq m section and has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and an open-plan living and dining area.

The Bayleys website says the house also has an entertainment area leading on to a landscaped garden, a home-theatre room with surround sound, wine cellar and double garaging.

Vettori, who returned from overseas cricket duty a week ago, was looking forward to spending time with his family before leaving for a tour of Sri Lanka in August.

Former pop palace sold

A luxury property that was once home to two-thirds of 80s pop trio the Thompson Twins has sold for $4.5 million.

The 5.3ha property in Matakana features a five-bedroom home built by band members Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie.

The property was bought by a NZ family. Agent Ross Hawkins said they chose it because it was unique.

Quotable Value listed the property value as $3.44m in 2005 but Hawkins said renovations and improvements had pushed the price up.

- additional reporting Anna Leask