KEY POINTS:
There's no substitute for experience in most walks of life. Take cricket and New Zealand captain Dan Vettori.
He's been in the national test and one-day teams - barring injury breaks - since his debut in 1997 against England.
Vettori has always been a gifted, high-quality performer, and
now the left-arm spinner is at the height of his powers. As skipper, that means, without putting too fine a point on it, he can bowl himself whenever he fancies it. And so he should.
When Richard Hadlee had the ball on a string in the last few years of his wonderful career in the 1980s, the sight of the No 9 batsman walking out of the tunnel would have him loosening up. He felt he'd earned the right to have first pop at the tail. What was more relevant was that he was the best bowler in the side, and therefore the best prospect to whiz through the lower order.
In the same way, Vettori is New Zealand's top bowler, and at the moment the best left-arm spinner in the game. In purely pragmatic terms, he should be filling his boots right now, and as captain he can.
His numbers tell their own story - 286 test wickets in 89 matches; 237 in 228 ODIs.
This week Vettori again demonstrated his mastery of the art when he befuddled the West Indies in taking four for 20 in New Zealand's seven-wicket win in Wellington.
At times, the West Indians were clueless, not that they are the toughest opponents Vettori has, or will, come up against. Australia next month will be a sterner challenge, but Vettori, at 29, is at his peak, is confident in his abilities and, having acquired 11 years of bowling wisdom, is enjoying the fruits of his labours.
"If I look back on the last three to five years, I'd like to think this has been the most productive part of my career, and the most enjoyable, I suppose, because of those performances," he said. "I feel in control of the ball, feel I have a really good understanding. And because I'm captain, I can bowl myself in what I perceive to be the best spots for a spinner to bowl."
He acknowledged that could be tough on the second spinner, Jeetan Patel. But that's life. Vettori has done his time and his ability dictates that he gives himself first dibs.
That said, Patel now has a captain who has a deep knowledge of when spinners can best be used, and Vettori is not afraid to give the Wellington offspinner his head when he feels it is right. Witness Patel's five for 110 in 46 overs in the second test at Napier last month.
Watch the slow motion side-on images of a Vettori over on television which show the speed of his deliveries and where they land. His ability to bowl what seems an identical delivery at different speeds, and land them on virtually the same patch of turf, is a priceless asset.
It only takes a few kilometres difference in speed to throw doubt in a batsman's mind.
"That's a confidence thing," Vettori said of his variations.
"And confidence comes from performance. That's been there for a while. I go into most games feeling like I know what to do against most international players and have a plan for them."
Vettori enjoys the mental battle with the batsman and calls finger spin "a thinking man's art". He doesn't have the huge variations of a Muttiah Muralitharan, test cricket's highest wicket taker and a bowling freak, or India's Harbhajan Singh.
"The successful ones over the years are the ones who have an intimate knowledge of what they're doing."
And Vettori hopes being captain will help the likes of Patel.
"Everyone talked about whether my bowling would diminish when I took over the captaincy. But it's the thing I know best, so it should be the thing I should be able to continue to do [well].
"It is difficult for young spinners coming up if the captain doesn't have an understanding of what a spinner is about and how he needs to brought into the game. It is a balancing act. I'm just lucky that I am captain."
