Cricket: Another tough call for Vettori

Daniel Vettori has faced his fair share of decisions recently as Black Caps captain, selector, all-rounder and temporary coach - but the biggest call could be made this week regarding his shoulder injury.

If you're an orthopaedic surgeon who has taken the Hippocratic oath, you'd probably advise immediate surgery. If you're a New Zealand cricket fan who knows the fate of the upcoming summer relies on Vettori's presence you'd recommend he pops a couple more Voltaren.

Medical specialists say in all likelihood his injury is related to a rotator cuff tear, caused when the shoulder does a lot of activity at 90 degrees or more - like regularly bowl New Zealand out of trouble.

Immediate surgery means the 30-year-old would be likely to have a longer cricketing life but that's tempered by the thought he'd be off the field for three to six months. In contrast, there's every chance he could soldier on building scar tissue and throwing down anti-inflammatory drugs with his meat and taties until there's a break in the playing schedule after the Twenty20 World Cup finishes in May.

However, a potentially absent Vettori might only be the start of the Black Caps' problems with the first test against Pakistan starting in Dunedin on November 24.

The sight of 17 year-old Mohammad Aamer striding in left-arm over the wicket may also create issues, especially for the right handers, judging by his efforts at around 140kph in the two Twenty20 wins over the Kiwis in Dubai.

His variations - moving it off the seam from middle-and-leg on a good length or bowling in-swingers on middle-and-off before again taking it away could bring a haul of scalps, given the New Zealanders won't have the default option of edging through a predominantly vacant slip region.

Scott Styris rated Aamer after making 43 from 33 balls in yesterday's seven run loss.

"He's a star of the future, it's hard to believe he's only 17 but Wasim Akram's been mentoring him. He's learned his trade quickly but most of the players who have faced him in this series will do so again in the test without any special fears of the unknown."

Fellow left armer Akram picked out Aamer as a special talent at a pace bowling camp he oversaw in Lahore in May 2007. A parallel can also be drawn in the fact Akram played his second test in Dunedin aged just 18 in February 1985 where he famously felled Lance Cairns sans helmet with a bouncer on his way to a 10-wicket haul.

Most will remember that test as then being won by New Zealand, thanks to a 50-run 10th wicket partnership between Jeremy Coney and Ewen Chatfield. Expect a few left-armers to get the call-up for practice and the bowling machine to be cranked up and placed on the right of the umpire over the next week.