It goes without saying that Daniel Vettori knew a fair bit about winning from an early age. The more he excelled the better he came to understand success. The big question was always how he would cope with failure.

Unlike most young players - left to negotiate this phase of their career in the relative obscurity of domestic cricket - Vettori has been in the public eye since he was 18 years and 10 days old, and making headlines as New Zealand's youngest Test player.

Under the glare of the media spotlight, the now-21-year-old left-arm spinner experienced a slump in form for possibly the first time in his life last summer, when he struggled for rhythm in the home series against India and South Africa.

But soon after, in what might later prove to be a pivotal time of his career, Vettori managed to confront his own fears and doubts and bounce back to his influential best during New Zealand's record-setting tour of England.

It doesn't always work out like that, as players such as Ken Rutherford, Mark Haslam, David Sewell and latterly Matthew Bell - to name just a few- will surely attest. It can sometimes be a long and painful metamorphosis.

Vettori, after charging up the New Zealand Test wicket-taking charts during his first two seasons, hit the wall to a degree last summer, taking just two wickets in two Tests against India at an average of 91.50 and seven against South Africa at an average of 50.42.

He was then left out of New Zealand's playing line-up during the entire World Cup, but rebounded spectacularly in the Test series against England, not only turning in a much improved bowling effort, with 10 wickets at 24.90, but also providing invaluable lower-order batting.

The Northern Districts spinner's all-round status was enhanced during the second Test win at Lord's when he came in as nightwatchman and went on to score 54, and again in the decider at The Oval, when he helped rescue New Zealand's first innings with a precious 51.

"I found out about how hard the game could get last season, really," Vettori recalls. "Against India and South Africa I wasn't bowling as well as I could - things weren't working - so I just went back to the basics and things started improving.

It's quite a helpful process in some ways because you learn a lot about your game, and your confidence is boosted."

He said the more recent tour to India had been beneficial for the same reasons, despite a losing margin in the Test and One Day International series.

"I really enjoyed India, in fact the whole squad were determined to enjoy the sub-continent experience rather than be negative about it.

"And you can't help but learn about your game when you're bowling aginst two or three of the best batsmen (against spin) in the world. They were very attacking and aggressive towards slow bowling.


Before the start of this season's National Bank Series against the West Indies Vettori had taken 83 Test wickets, and if he could have somehow conspired to snare 17 more against Lara's men he would've become the youngest player in Test cricket history to reach 100.

He needs only three more wickets to draw level with former New Zealand left-arm spinner Hedley Howarth, and 19 to eclipse the 102 claimed by off-spinner John Bracewell - the country's most successful slow bowler.

"I enjoy reading about the history of the game, and finding out about the people and matches that came before me," said Vettori. "When it comes to left-arm spinner you immediately think of Hedley Howarth and Stephen Boock, but I'm keen to find out more about Tom Burtt as well.

"It's not that I'm hugely interested in statistics, it's more about putting today's performances in some sort of context."