AUCKLAND: Daniel Vettori said on Wednesday it’s ‘pretty obvious’ he’ll play his last One-day International for New Zealand in Sunday’s World Cup final.

Vettori flew from Auckland to Melbourne with his team-mates to prepare for the final against the winners of Thursday’s match between Australia and India.

He will play his 295th one-dayer for New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, 18 years and four days since he played his first.

Vettori made his debut for New Zealand against Sri Lanka in 1997, aged 18. He has since taken 305 wickets and scored more than 2,200 one-day runs and will retire, aged 36, as New Zealand’s most-capped player.

Vettori said: “It’s not what I’m thinking about. It’s about enjoying the game, enjoying the build-up to a World Cup final.”

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum also conceded Vettori had probably played his last international innings on home soil, saying the Black Caps were intent on giving the veteran a fairytale send-off in the World Cup final.

The 36-year-old Vettori, who scored a crucial boundary at the death to help seal the four-wicket win, has been coy about his future plans but McCullum said “this was potentially his last game on New Zealand soil”.

“Last night with him out there at the end, that’s a memory he’ll never forget,” McCullum told reporters. “Hopefully we’ve got one more game, one more big fairytale finish for him and then we’ll have a few drinks.”

McCullum said Vettori, who claimed his 300th One-day International wicket earlier in the tournament, was still experiencing pain from a back injury that almost ended his career.

“He’s played a lot of his cricket with bumps and bruises and niggles and strains,” McCullum said. “People probably don’t realise but he’s had to overcome quite a bit to continue to back up and get out there and represent New Zealand. He’s a tough customer and he’s been an amazing servant for New Zealand cricket.”

McCullum said he was still savouring the ‘special’ semi-final win, New Zealand’s first in seven attempts, and had not yet thought about the tournament decider.

“We’ll deal with the final in the next couple of days. Today it’s all about letting [the South Africa win] sink in,” he said. “When you’ve achieved something as special as we have, you don’t want to park it too quickly. You have to allow yourself the opportunity to stop and smell the roses and identify what’s been the catalyst to your success.”

The New Zealand skipper, who scored a Test triple century last year, said the feeling when Grant Elliott smashed a six to send the Black Caps into the final was the best of his career.

“That was without doubt the best feeling I’ve been a part of,” he said. “I’ve had many people congratulate us today and say it was the single greatest sporting event that they’ve ever been to, which is pretty amazing, to be a part of that.”

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2015

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