27 Aug 2009

Vettori now officially one of the greats

7:20 am on 27 August 2009

Sir Richard Hadlee... Kapil Dev... Sir Ian Botham... Imran Khan... Dan Vettori.

The New Zealand cricket captain's become just the eighth member of the 300 club -- the first left-arm spinner to reach the landmark.

By removing the Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara on the first day of the Colombo Test, Vettori's now taken 300 Test wickets and scored 3,000 Test runs and he says it's particularly pleasing when you see the names in the exclusive club - particularly those four all rounders from the 1980s.

The 30-year-old Vettori is only the eighth player to achieve the all rounders double, and the first left arm spin bowler to take 300 wickets after taking two of the three Sri Lankan wickets to fall last night.

Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first on a flat pitch, but the Black Caps had them in some trouble at 115 for three before Jayawardene and Samaraweera came together in an unbroken partnership of 147 runs, taking their total to 262 for three.

Play started 30 minutes late because of a wet outfield.