Sport
Vettori!
by Joseph Romanos
Daniel Vettori is an international success as bowler, batsman, fieldsman and captain.
New Zealand cricket has a history of producing players who under-perform on the big occasion. We’ve had batsmen who look a million dollars in domestic cricket and bowlers who take wickets by the dozen until they get into the international arena.
Happily, Daniel Vettori is the opposite, the living embodiment of the age-old expression, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Vettori isn’t a big talker and he looks rather reticent in his bespectacled, laid-back manner. But he emphasised again through the Chappell-Hadlee one-day series just what a fine cricketer he is.
A year or two ago, there was talk of Vettori having lost his form as a bowler. None of that sort of rubbish is being spoken now.
Not only is he the best bowler in the country, but also he is one of the few New Zealand batsmen who consistently gets the most out of himself. He is an alert fieldsman and has surprised many with his shrewd if understated captaincy.
For the entire one-day series against Australia, his bowling figures were: 30 overs, 2 maidens, 117 runs, 5 wickets. He conceded less than four runs an over and his bowling average was 23.4. Astonishing, considering the brutal way the Aussies bashed the rest of the New Zealand bowling.
Vettori also took three catches, including a fantastic left-handed one in the covers at Jade Stadium, and averaged 39 with the bat, including his 23 not out off 12 deliveries in Christchurch, when he and Brendon McCullum steered New Zealand to their world-record victory.
Vettori is not yet 27. He could be playing for New Zealand for another 10 years. If he can hold his form – and with his temperament and composure there seems no reason why he won’t – imagine the records he’ll set before he’s done.
Gordon Irving, the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s communications manager, hasn’t received enough credit for compiling One Team One Spirit, the 46-minute award-winning documentary that told the story of New Zealand at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
I sat with veteran broadcaster Keith Quinn at the preview screening of the docu-mentary and we both had tears in our eyes watching the gold medal efforts of Hamish Carter, Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell and Sarah Ulmer, and seeing the obvious camaraderie forged within the entire New Zealand Olympic team.
One Team One Spirit was entered in the 23rd international festival for sports movies and television in Milan. The festival drew more than 900 entries, but Irving’s documentary won the Olympic spirit section. This was a tribute to Irving’s ability as an interviewer, scriptwriter and news editor, and to those whom it featured. Beatrice Faumuina, Hamish Carter, Sarah Ulmer and, especially, Olympic team chef de mission Dave Currie spoke emotionally and openly about what it meant to be a New Zealand Olympian.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee should be proud of One Team One Spirit. I cannot think of any similar effort ever in New Zealand sport.
Sachin Tendulkar has broken countryman Sunil Gavaskar’s record for most test centuries. When he reached 100 against Sri Lanka at Mumbai, Tendulkar had compiled his 35th test century.
With all the cricket that’s played these days, it’s inevitable that such records will fall, but it’s pleasing when they are broken by players of the highest quality. Shane Warne holds the test record for most wickets, which is fitting considering he is regarded as the finest leg-spinner ever. Brian Lara, an equally good cricketer, holds two major test batting records, for most runs and highest score.
Now Tendulkar has topped Gavaskar with his 35 centuries. Only five New Zealanders – Glenn Turner (103), Martin Crowe (71), John Wright (59), Bert Sutcliffe (44) and John R Reid (39) have scored more centuries in first-class cricket, let alone at test level, which gives some idea of the scale of Tendulkar’s achievement.
Jonah Lomu is the most famous player in rugby history, so not surprisingly his comeback to representative football has provoked huge interest. Lomu, now 30, has been turning out for the Cardiff Blues in the European Cup.
After being out of big rugby for 28 months, during which time he has had a kidney transplant and a shoulder operation, Lomu is hoping to return to test rugby. He won’t do that – he has lost his pace and agility and isn’t a patch on the likes of Doug Howlett, Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu – but it’s great to see the big fella back on the field.
His first match for Cardiff was against lowly Calvisano in San Michele, and he lasted an hour, during which he made a couple of bullocking charges and looked fairly bone-weary by the end. Cardiff won 25-10, a crowd of 2500 turned out to see Lomu (twice the normal size for such a game) and everyone left happy.
When Lomu made his home debut the following week, also against Calvisano, he drew huge numbers of Welsh spectators. It’s doubtful if the curiosity factor will continue. These days Lomu is just another winger and once the novelty wears off, he will not be such a drawcard.
Even so, I salute him for his comeback. Watching him shuffle across the stage at the Halberg Awards ceremony nearly two years ago, I couldn’t believe that he would play representative rugby again. That he has done so is a credit to his quiet determination.
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