Timing not right for Vettori retirement

Record-breaking New Zealand cricketer Daniel Vettori says the timing isn't right to officially announce his retirement from Test cricket.

Vettori's 112th Test for New Zealand, and quite possibly his last, was their innings and 80-run defeat of Pakistan in the third Test at Sharjah.

However, the 35-year-old didn't want to claim any limelight following the death on Thursday of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, which had impacted heavily on Vettori and his teammates.

"I suppose the current timing, what's happened in the last few days, it doesn't feel appropriate to make a big statement, so I thought that I'd just sit back and enjoy the Test win as much as I can," he said.

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Vettori moved ahead of the 111 Tests played by another former captain, Stephen Fleming, to be the outright holder of the record for New Zealand caps.

His two wickets in Sharjah lifts him to 361 Test scalps. The figure is 362 if a Test for a World XI against Australia in 2005 is included.

He hadn't played a Test for more than two years because of a variety of injuries and believed any return to international cricket would be in the limited-overs form, with an eye on next year's World Cup.

"In my mind there wasn't any more Test cricket in the future, but I didn't think it was appropriate to retire when I had been out of the team so long," he said.

"It was probably easier to just disappear, but this opportunity over the last few days has been special."

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Left-arm spinner Vettori was included in the New Zealand A squad for a series of one-day matches in the United Arab Emirates.

He was surprised when called upon by New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum to play the third Test, immediately questioning whether his fitness was up to Test requirements.

However, he felt he couldn't say no and asked wife Mary to promptly post his Test cap to Sharjah.

"I was lucky that it made it here in time, it wouldn't have felt quite right to play a Test match not in this cap," he said.

"It has seen a lot of games and a lot of good times and a lot of hard times, so it's very special to me."

At 18, Vettori became New Zealand's youngest Test cricket when debuted against England in 1997 in Wellington, snaring Nasser Hussain for his first international wicket.

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Over the course of 17 years, the southpaw sits behind only champion fast bowler Sit Richard Hadlee as his country's leading Test wicket-taker, and has taken more Test wickets than any other left-arm spinner in history.  

Alongside legendary allrounders Kapil Dev and Sir Ian Botham, Vettori is the third man in Test history to record the 300 wickets/4000 runs double.

Vettori has also taken more one-day international wickets (284) than another Black Cap, and will look to add to that tally when New Zealand co-host the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup with Australia in February and March next year. 

He will also take part on the fourth installment of the KFC T20 Big Bash League, playing for the Brisbane Heat with former ICC World XI teammate, Andrew Flintoff.

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