Cricket: Vettori fifth-best allrounder

Daniel Vettori

Daniel Vettori may have emerged from the Australian series with his reputation intact, but the same cannot be said for his fracture-ridden lower back.

The New Zealand left-arm spinner, yesterday named as the world's fifth-best allrounder following an impressive contribution against Australia, limped off Eden Park in pain on Tuesday evening and is in doubt for the opening test against Sri Lanka.

Only four wickets short of becoming the third New Zealander to reach the 200 mark, Vettori has been battling chronic back pain and stiffness all summer, but looked worse in Auckland, where his condition seemed to have deteriorated.

For the first time in his career he was forced to play second-fiddle to Paul Wiseman; he wasn't able to bowl a spell of more than eight overs; and there were a couple of occasions in the field when he looked like an arthritic cart-horse.

Although Vettori refuses to rule himself out of contention for the Sri Lankan series, he conceded on Tuesday that his back had been sore throughout the series, especially when he wasn't active, and that the next couple of days would dictate his availability.

That prognosis was supported by captain Stephen Fleming, who said he appreciated the amount of pain Vettori had managed to play through, and that he believed the spin-star had done "incredibly well" to get this far.

New Zealand coach John Bracewell will reveal his thoughts on the matter today when he announces his combination for the first test in Napier, where New Zealand will resume the series cut short by the Boxing Day tsunami.

Bracewell's decision will be a significant one for New Zealand, who would have been banking on Vettori's presence against Sri Lanka and could be facing another tough couple of tests should they lose their most experienced bowler.

Underlining Vettori's worth to his team was the latest update of the ICC player rankings, which elevated the spinner to fifth place on the allrounders' list, behind South Africa's Jacques Kallis, England's Andy Flintoff, Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya, and South Africa's Shaun Pollock.

Though hampered by his back condition, Vettori still managed to score 198 runs against Australia at 66.00, an effort that helped promote him 16 places to 51st on the batting ranks - his highest rating since making his debut as a 17-year-old.

It also put him at the top of the New Zealand batting averages for the Australian series.

However, the injury restrictions seemed to limit his impact with the ball, a development that led to him taking eight wickets at 49.62 against Australia, not to mention dropping one place to 16th on the ICC bowler rankings.

Vettori was overtaken by England left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, who moved into 15th spot, one behind controversial Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

The only other finger spinner above Vettori in the rankings is Sri Lankan doosra expert Muthiah Muralitharan, who lies second behind the No 1 seed, Australia's Glenn McGrath.

Apart from Vettori's back problems, the only other fresh injury concern for Bracewell is the fitness of Hamish Marshall, who was suffering from a type of shin-splint condition during the Auckland test and spent much of the time off the field.

A decision on Marshall - who climbed to 47th place on the batting rankings after averaging 44.83 against Australia, was expected to have been made last night.

Most of the remaining injured players - Shane Bond, Jacob Oram, Scott Styris, Chris Harris, Ian Butler and Shane Bond, have been ruled out of contention, although Daryl Tuffey remains a possibility for the second test in Wellington.