Sport

Daniel Vettori announces retirement from international cricket

His last appearance for his country came in Sunday’s World Cup final against Australia

New Zealand former captain Dan Vettori has retired. Photo: David Rowland/AP
New Zealand former captain Dan Vettori has retired. Photo: David Rowland/AP
Tue Mar 31 2015 - 09:30

Record-breaking former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has announced his retirement from international cricket.

The 36-year-old has called time on a career that has included 113 Test matches, 295 one-day internationals and 34 T20Is.

His last appearance for his country came in Sunday's World Cup final against Australia in Melbourne, where New Zealand suffered a seven-wicket defeat.

He told reporters at Auckland airport: “It was my last game for New Zealand, in the final, so it was a lovely way to finish.

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“Obviously it would have been great to win, but I’m pretty proud of everyone, the way we’ve gone about things the last six weeks.”

The left-arm spinner, who was named in the ICC team of the tournament after taking 15 wickets, added : “To be able to finish in the final, albeit without a win, I’m just very grateful for the amount of support I had, particularly from Brendon (captain McCullum) and Mike (coach Hesson).

“To be able to get back from a number of injuries and to be here and to be part of it, and hopefully to be a big contributing factor, is something I’ll always treasure.”

Vettori became New Zealand’s youngest-ever Test player when he made his debut against England in February 1997 at the age of 18 and went on to take 361 wickets in the format, leaving him second in the country’s all-time list behind Richard Hadlee (431).

Vettori is only one of three men to have scored 4,000 Test runs and taken 300 Test wickets, along with Ian Botham and Kapil Dev.

His ODI bow came a month later against Sri Lanka and his final tally of 297 wickets is a Black Caps record, with Kyle Mills second on the list with 240 scalps.

The Auckland-born spinner, who captained New Zealand in all three formats, also holds the record for the most Test (112) and ODI (291) appearances for New Zealand.

He also played one Test and four ODIs for the ICC World XI in 2005, taking nine wickets in total.

Vettori, who has played for Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire in county cricket, is the head coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.