Vettori sets for long, hard haul at Jade

Daniel Vettori has given himself the green light but cricket history and current form point to long hours of hard slog for him and an under-strength New Zealand attack against Australia at Jade Stadium here tomorrow.
At 26, and with 59 tests under his belt making him the veteran of New Zealand's attack, Vettori's record at Jade Stadium is reflective of the pitch's quality in recent years ? six wickets from three tests at an average of 51 runs apiece.
The past three tests at the ground have resulted in two sleep-inducing draws against South Africa in 1999 and Pakistan in 2001, then a supercharged runfest three years ago against England.
On a portable pitch resembling the green outfield on the first day, New Zealand skittled England for 228 then folded for 147 before England plundered 468 to set the hosts 550 to win.
Nathan Astle's remarkable 222 off 168 balls, the world's fastest test double century, still wasn't enough as New Zealand fell short by 98 runs on a pitch getting better by the day.
Groundsman Chris Lewis dropped in the same pitch this week after last Saturday's Super 12 rugby match and predicts a hard and fast surface to favour batting, and ominously, Australia's pacemen for the first test starting on Thursday.
That comes as little comfort to Vettori, who yesterday declared himself ready to take a full part in the test against the in-form world champions after struggling with back soreness.
Usually at his best on a deteriorating pitch with variable bounce and spin from the bowler's footmarks, Vettori had to settle for being hopeful.
"For a while now I've been the guy who's supposed to bowl a lot of overs and do a job so you get used to it.
"The fact that having a good one-day series and the other bowlers weren't involved ... I know there's a lot expected of me but I'm pretty relaxed about it," he said.
"The last few years Jade Stadium's been a fantastic deck, great for batters and a real hard slog for bowlers. Hopefully it might break up and footmarks might come into play."
The tough part for New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming will be weighing up the state of Vettori's back against the need to call on him regularly if Australia's batting heavyweights get away.
In the pre-Christmas test series in Australia, Vettori had his usual huge workload ? four for 154 off 50 overs in Brisbane and five for 152 off 55.2, then one for 35 off 18 in Adelaide.
Having returned to some of his best form, he ended that series with 43 wickets from 10 tests against Australia at 30.44, compared with his overall test average of 188 wickets at 35.06.
"I quite like setting up camp at one end and bowling for long periods of time so I'm sure it'll be a similar sort of thing," Vettori said.
"I think they'll play me pretty similar to the test matches over there. They looked to pick up their boundaries but they weren't reckless at all."
Early indications from coach John Bracewell suggested he favoured two spinners, meaning Paul Wiseman could be rewarded for his sound efforts in Australia pre-Christmas.
"Paul's bowled pretty well to the Aussies in the past so I'm sure that'll come into it," Vettori said.
Wiseman spins the ball away from Australian left-handers Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden ? if he is passed fit from a shoulder injury ? and Adam Gilchrist, which will help his case.
That means newcomer Iain O'Brien would be 12th man, with Craig McMillan and Astle to share the fifth bowler's duties behind pacemen Chris Martin and James Franklin.-NZPA