Cricket: Vettori's passport gets a workout

Dan Vettori. Photo / Getty Images

Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori is on the move these days.

And he's hoping a gruelling travel schedule won't stop him giving Queensland a "leg-up" towards the Australian domestic Twenty20 preliminary final.

Vettori was playing in a HRV Cup T20 game for Northern Districts against Otago in Invercargill yesterday.

This afternoon he'll be landing at Sydney airport, in time to make his Big Bash debut for the Bulls against NSW at ANZ Stadium at 7.15pm local time (9.15pm NZT).

The 30-year-old spin bowler then heads back to New Zealand to play another domestic T20 game on Friday in Mount Maunganui.

But the 97-Test veteran will be available for Queensland if they qualify for the second-versus-third preliminary final on January 19.

"I'll be keen to catch up with the Queensland boys when I get there tomorrow afternoon and introduce myself to a few of the younger lads that I haven't met before," Vettori told AAP via email.

"It's a big game for both teams and I see NSW have named a pretty strong side.

"But hopefully I can provide the Bulls with a lift and give them a bit of a leg-up towards making the Big Bash prelim final."

Vettori said the Bulls, with two losses in three games, were in a desperate position.

"We have to keep winning so I know there is a pretty small margin for error," Vettori said.

"Shane Jurgensen, our bowling coach at the Black Caps, is a former Queensland player and Jurgo has been reminding me on a pretty regular basis how important it is for me to step up for the Bulls.

"He's tried to teach me their team song but hopefully the lads have got a cheat sheet or something for me to read in case I need it."

One of world cricket's leading slow bowlers, Vettori's 27 scalps at 14.44 ranks him as the third-highest wicket-taker in T20 Internationals.

However Vettori has been bowling in varying levels of pain since suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder during the ICC World T20 in June 2009.

The spinner decided in December to postpone surgery because it would have meant spending six to 12 months on the sidelines.

Vettori could prove to a match-winner for the Bulls with the bat. The left-hander averaged 59.92 in eight Tests in 2009, including three centuries.

- AAP