Cricket: One giant headache for Vettori

Daniel Vettori. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Picking teams to suit various occasions is a favourite game to while away idle hours.

So how does this look for a New Zealand 12: Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Dan Vettori, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Andy McKay.

Okay, rather top heavy in the fast-medium department, a shade skinny for specialist openers and a touch ropy in the middle order.

And the link? All these players have played for New Zealand at either test or ODI level in the past six months, and all have at one time or another battled injury problems which have cut into their availability.

This is nothing new for New Zealand but it is becoming hugely frustrating, as Vettori mentioned in the leadup to last weekend's ODI against Australia at Eden Park.

"I'm sick of having to test depth issues," he said. "We want a full team available as often as possible.

"It creates opportunities for the likes of Gareth Hopkins but it would be better if we had 15 fully fit guys competing for places."

Certainly Hopkins is a prime example of a player who got a chance with Brendon McCullum's occasionally wonky back opening a job for him.

His sparky batting in both the Twenty20 internationals which began the Australian tour, and the subsequent ODIs against Australia provided a sound argument for his inclusion.

But equally, Vettori is dead right. He isn't the first New Zealand captain to bemoan the absence of leading players and it is easy to understand and sympathise with his frustration.

What's to be done about it? There is a limit, in the sense that injuries happen. Always have, always will.

However coach Mark Greatbatch has talked of ways to try to minimise them, to get more out of the country's best players.

"Some of our guys aren't able to sustain the schedule at the moment," the former test lefthander said.

With that in mind, one strategy is to have the players spend more time working at practice, in a variation on the old line about practising as you intend to play.

"There is a plan in place going forward over the next year to try and improve that. We need to do more work on tour. It's not easy when you're playing games of cricket, but we've got to try and get guys more attuned."

Greatbatch cited a fast-medium bowler, who might cover about 18km during an ODI, but at training might only put in 8-9km. Therefore the body comes under greater strain during a match.

"We will try to up the level of preparation so players can sustain it."

New Zealand are by no means the only country beset by problems, often brought about by the heavy international workload and sometimes dodgy bowling techniques putting stress on the frame.

Australia have been, or are, without bowlers Peter Siddle, Stuart Clark,Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Bracken and Brett Lee in recent times.

But they have one big advantage over their Tasman neighbours: depth.

But that's not a word Vettori particularly wants to hear right now.