The leftie rolled his
arm through 51 overs in the first innings but picked up 1-124. Let's not go to the second innings.
In five tests this year, Vettori has claimed five scalps in 183.3 overs at an average of 87.8 with a strike rate of one wicket from 220 balls.
The Swiss knife of Black Caps cricket over the years, few will deny the tweaker plaudits for a sterling international stint for his country.
Having made his debut as the youngest test cricketer at the age of 18 in 1997, the Northern Districts spinner who can bat has amassed 360 wickets and scored 4516 runs.
But you have to ask another question: "What is his motivation?"
Apart from longevity, perhaps to overhaul Sir Richard Hadlee's 431 test dismissals, which was once a world record before Kapil Dev eclipsed it with a rash of others such as Walsh, McGrath, Kumble and Warne before Muttiah Muralitharan claimed the top rung with 800 only to retire in 2010 amid myriad injuries.
Even Hadlee's feat must feel like a bridge too far for Vettori right now.
Injured or not, Central Districts Stags legspinner Tarun Nethula should always be in the coach and selectors' equation even though he has taken a flogging in a three-day warm-up match in the West Indies.
It's time to blood Nethula even if it means the Black Caps are going to lose matches. He doesn't have test experience but he certainly isn't going to find it carrying the drinks bottle.
It's a given Nethula is no Sunil Narine, the first-test, man-of-the-match who finds prodigious turn.
Nevertheless, the much-needed experience for the Cornwall Cricket Club player from Hastings is paramount in finding a successor for Vettori, who will eventually break down with monotonous regularity before lifting the bails on his career.
All the talk about finding a balance with batting and bowling ratios is nothing but a red herring.
It's like soccer defenders who holler at midfielders/strikers to run back to bolster the wall but when they have possession, they look up only to find no one to pass it to up front to score goals.
It's simple, really. It's time for the specialist batsmen to perform. Daniel Flynn, Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum and Co need to start eking out runs. Heads down, bat/pad and occupy the crease as test batsmen are supposed to do.
On a first-test strip, Chris Gayle and Kieran Powell flirted with double centuries then why didn't Guptill, McCullum and other batsmen?
Ditto, veteran seamer Chris Martin.
If Martin admittedly failed to deliver with all his experience then it's time to throw the ball to Tim Southee or Trent Boult.
After all, leftie Neil Wagner, 26, showed promise on debut although his one scalp for 144 runs from 38 overs isn't earth shattering by any yardstick.
Any thoughts of discarding Wagner is bad enough but having a spinner in the squad and not using him is tantamount to criminal.
