The Orange

In case you missed all the excitement (and assuming YouTube don’t pull the vid!):

Dan Vettori is the latest cricketer to join the exclusive triple triple club – 3000 runs and three hundred wickets.

The full list is:

Daniel Vettori (New Zealand): 300 wickets at 33.52; 3329 runs at 28.69; 94 tests 1997 – current

Richard Hadlee (NZ): 431 wickets at 22.59; 3124 runs at 27.16; 86 tests 1973-1990

Ian Botham (England): 383 wickets at 28.40; 5200 runs at 33.54, 102 tests 1977-92

Kapil Dev (India): 434 wickets at 29.64; 5248 runs at 31.05; 131 tests 1978-94

Imran Khan (Pakistan): 362 wickets at 22.81; 3807 runs at 37.69; 88 tests 1971-92

Shane Warne (Australia): 708 wickets at 25.41; 3154 runs at 17.32; 145 tests 1992-2007

Shaun Pollock (South Africa): 421 wickets at 23.11; 3781 runs at 32.31; 108 tests 1995-2008

Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka): 315 wickets at 29.58; 3089 runs at 24.32; 111 tests 1994-2009

The odd thing being a NZ cricketer supporter is seeing two Kiwis on a top list.  No other country has two.

Now, there’s a danger here we could get a tad excited having a couple of our boys on the top list for anything.

And in fairness, Dan’s had a few things to deal with.

Green top pitches, not much in the way of support from the other end, cheating Aussies umpires, and the biggie – never getting the easy wicket playing against NZ.

Still, it’s not a bad effort particularly given he’s grown up in the on Sky Sport 1, 2 , and 3.

What’s particularly impressive is that he started as bowler with no expectation he could hold a bat.

Not any more:

After struggling to make an impact with the bat early in his career Vettori is now a genuine allrounder having scored three hundreds and 20 half centuries.

Vettori has amassed 3329 runs at 28.69 and despite typically batting at No 8 he has proved New Zealand’s most reliable batsman — this year alone he averages 54.83.

“Five or six years ago I was pretty embarrassed by my test batting record,” said Vettori, who topped New Zealand’s first test batting aggregates with 109.

Yep, I’d be embarassed about playing cricket for NZ when I was 18!

On ya Dan!

Confirmation today that Dan is the man when it comes to one day cricket.

Just a pity that one player a team does not make.  You might have to rearrange some of the last sentence to make sense but you get my point.

Seeing we are definitely NOT the number one team, it makes you wonder what other potential number ones (no toilet jokes please) we have.

Number one for injuries, broken fingers, and unmet expectations – Jacob Oram.

Number one for not building on starts – Brendon McCullum.

Number one – tatoos on a cricketer – Brendon McCullum.

Number one for breaking toilet doors (clearly helpful if in a hurry to do number ones and indeed number twos) – Jesse Ryder.

Number one for being a decent bloke playing international cricket with a girl’s name – Jesse Ryder.

Number one Black Cap player you’ve never heard of – Martin Guptill.

The number one fans – anyone who has to suffer through the ups and downs of supporting the Black Craps.  Pommy supporters come a close second but then they are used to it.  And they sing better songs.  If our team is crap we just don’t go and watch them and we certainly don’t sing songs either.

Number one umpire you want we you are fielding – Asoka De Silva.

Number one umpire you DEFINITELY don’t want when batting – Asoka De Silva.

Number one team we love to see lose – Australia.  (NB South Africa is an acceptable answer EXCEPT when playing Australia)

At least we are number one at some things!