Vettori out of second Test against England

LEEDS: Daniel Vettori was on Thursday ruled out of playing in the second and final Test against England starting in Leeds on Friday after doubts over his ability to last a five-day match.

Former captain Vettori hasn't played a Test for nearly a year, mainly because of Achilles trouble, and was only originally selected for the one-day leg of this tour.

But a calf injury suffered by his fellow left-arm spinner Bruce Martin during New Zealand's thumping 170-run first Test defeat at Lord's saw Vettori make an earlier than expected arrival in England.

He trained Wednesday but New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum told
reporters at Headingley on Thursday: "Dan's out of tomorrow's game
unfortunately.

"We obviously gave it our best shot with Dan but it he didn't scrub up that well today and just the confidence to go into a five-day game, with the workload he's had, it was just a bridge too far unfortunately."

Vettori, New Zealand's jointly most-capped Test player of all-time with 111 appearances, a mark he shares with Stephen Fleming, has taken 359 Test wickets for his country -- a record only bettered for the Black Caps by Richard Hadlee.

But he hasn't played a Test since facing the West Indies in Antigua in July last year.

And with a one-day series with England and the ICC Champions Trophy in the UK on the horizon, McCullum said there was no point risking Vettori at Headingley.

"He's got a biggish month and a a bit coming up for us as well. That's one of the things we looked at as well. Would we sacrifice the coming few weeks as well? That wasn't the right thing for Dan, it wasn't the right thing for us." (AFP)