Kiwis hopeful over Vettori

Daniel Vettori

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New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori had two stitches in a finger injury on his bowling hand but should be fit in time to face England in this month’s first npower Test at Lord’s.

The slow left-armer suffered a cut to the forefinger on the second day of the tour match against Essex at Chelmsford.

Vettori “feared the worst” as he rushed off the field on his way to hospital, but after it was confirmed he has no break, New Zealand expect him to be ready for May 15.

He will, however, have to wait a week to have his stitches out and will therefore take no further part in the ongoing match and will also almost certainly miss his team’s final warm-up fixture - against England Lions starting at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.

Team manager Lindsay Crocker explained: “He’s cut the first knuckle, at the top, across it on the underside of the finger.

“There was a bit of blood but we thought maybe he might have done some other damage - so we wanted to get it x-rayed to see maybe whether there was a problem with the tendon or bone.

“But there are none of those - it’s just a soft-tissue split and he’s had two stitches.

“He should have the stitches out in about a week and should be fine.”

Vettori arrived in England only two days ago after cutting short his involvement in the Indian Premier League to lead his country in preparation for their three-Test series.

The 11 overs he has bowled against Essex are likely to be the only ones he manages in a match situation before Lord’s.

New Zealand team manager Lindsay Crocker thinks Vettori will not face the England Lions

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“He will probably be struggling to play the next match, which will leave him short of a gallop before the Test,” Crocker added.

“He wanted to play both these two games to get quite a few overs in. He’s not going to get that opportunity now but should be right to play in the first Test.”

Vettori and the Kiwi camp were nonetheless relieved at the medical prognosis because the injury, suffered backing up a throw from vice-captain Brendon McCullum, could easily have been more serious.

“Daniel looked at it straightaway and ran off the field straightaway and feared the worst for a little while,” Crocker reported.

“But the worst would have been some injury to the bone, and that is not the case.”

Vettori’s problems came on a mixed second day against Essex for the Kiwis, who reduced their hosts to 251 for nine in reply to their own 355 all out by stumps - despite 66 from England hopeful Ravi Bopara.

Back-up seamers Michael Mason (4-59) and Iain O’Brien (3-46) each took their chance to bid for a place in the Test line-up.

O’Brien later spoke with satisfaction about his performance.

“We are possibly playing for the same position, so it’s vital that we both bowl well - and we’ve come out and bowled well today and had the ball swinging,” he said.

O’Brien’s most telling wicket was that of Essex captain Mark Pettini, who - like James Middlebrook after him - lost his middle stump when he missed an attempted drive at some vicious inswing.

“I enjoyed it,” said O’Brien.

“There were a couple of times middle stump came out of the ground, so it was nice feeling to get the ‘inny’ going. It’s not something I’ve used very often.”