Mark Richardson: Quiet achiever spins a legacy

Daniel Vettori just got better and better in limited-overs cricket. Photo / Getty Images

Spinners around New Zealand rejoice - finally you've got a chance at an international career.

For close to two decades, Daniel Vettori held a mortgage on the spinner's spot in the Black Caps. There have been others who have come and gone but they've been fleeting and mostly only kept the spot warm while Vettori rehabbed.

There was the two-spinner phase for a while but it was just a phase and we got over it because that's not how we operate here. There can be only one and, for 19 years, Vettori was the one.

I remember when he was picked for the first time. It coincided with a difficult time in my cancerous spin bowling death.

I was at the pub most likely looking for a cure when the coach of the Otago Volts at the time, Lance Cairns, yelled at me, "they've picked this Luigi kid!"

I knew who he meant and I said, "that's ridiculous".

I then saw him bowl and thought, "no, that's not so ridiculous and that's the end of my aspirations of bowling for New Zealand". So, in a way, I hate you but I also thank you, Dan Vettori.

The thing that always impressed me about Vettori, pretty much from the first ball he bowled, was the way he just bowled.

There was no fuss, no fanfare, no outward showing of anxiety or high emotion. He just bowled - and as it turned out - bowled and bowled and bowled.

In the early days, he was the skinny, awkward-looking bookworm who bounded in and gave it a rip. In the final days, he was the gangly professor who sauntered in and delivered subtlety on a string. Whatever it was, it was always effective.

In test cricket, Vettori's wicket-taking effectiveness left him somewhat but he always covered for that by offering more than just the overs he bowled.

But in limited-overs cricket, Vettori got better and better.

We will celebrate the notable Cup achievements of Trent Boult but yet again, in his own way, Vettori was a hugely significant contributor. Let's not forget he was named in the tournament team. That selection sums him up. Vettori is an irresistible cricketer not only for us but also the world.

Maybe Vettori will never be spoken of in the same breath as The Don, or Lara, Tendulkar, Warne or even Sir Richard Hadlee but, in my eyes, he was every bit the cricketer. Vettori's longevity earned him statistical excellence but he also developed a sixth sense for cricket that is indicative of the greats. More often than not, he knew what to do.

There are three things that will always stick in my mind when appreciating Daniel Vettori. The first came on my first tour.

We were playing a warm-up game in Zimbabwe and Dan bowled a pile of rubbish for about five overs. I was astonished but he shrugged his shoulder in the tea break, sorted it out and got it right. Had it been me, I would have spent the night in the foetal position thinking it was all over.

Then there was the catch in the World Cup. An old man had no business taking that catch but an old man did and he did it in a way as if to say, 'what's the big deal? I do this stuff'. It was so Dan Vettori.

And finally, and the most poignant moment for me, was those ugly scenes on The Oval dressing room balcony on the tour of England in 2008. It was the moment Dan let his guard down and showed the competitive and driven man he is - the man that he outwardly defied but the man you must be if you want to survive in international cricket.