Daniel Vettori is unequivocal. He will resign the New Zealand captaincy in a year's time, and consider quitting one-day and Twenty20 internationals to help him potentially stretch his test career until age 35.
Tomorrow will be one of the proudest days of the statistics-driven Vettori's career as he walks to the centre of Seddon Park to toss the coin for his 100th test, against his Australian sparring partner Ricky Ponting.
But he won't be satisfied with an even century of caps, or just to beat former captain Stephen Fleming's New Zealand record of 111 tests.
His cricketing future plans are in place, leading New Zealand in the Twenty20 World Cup next month; test tours to Bangladesh and India later this year, then the World Cup on the subcontinent next February. Then he'll continue on, in tests at least, and hand over the captain's armband to....?
"I've always stood by that; it's not so much about me but more about the right timing," Vettori told NZPA today.
"The team always needs a fresh voice and there's two very capable guys waiting in the wings (Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum). I don't want to get caught up in just hanging around for the sake of having the captaincy and I'd love to keep playing under one of them."
Taylor is the obvious successor, having moved past McCullum to the vice-captaincy role, even if it was quietly unannounced. McCullum, though, has served a long apprenticeship as captain-in-waiting and his mature century in the first test against Australia was a big tick beside his name.
Whoever gets the nod, the 31-year-old Vettori saw himself potentially involved for another four years as No 6 batsman and go-to bowler.
"I've always thought I'd play until I was about 35 and test cricket is the part of the game that I want to persevere with," he said.
"So if I was ever to give away one facet it would probably be the limited overs. I want to play for a while yet so I'm not putting a definitive timeline on it."
Thirteen years since he debuted as a floppy-haired, bespectacled kid bound for a pharmacy degree at Waikato University, the popular Vettori will be warmly honoured as family and friend flock to Seddon Park tomorrow. He could also notch another milestone in coming days as he sits 75 runs short of 4000.
"It's exciting but it's almost got to the stage where I just want to get it out of the way," Vettori said.
He remembers his test debut against England in Wellington not for his bowling, but for extreme nerves over his batting and the fact noted bunny Geoff Allott pushed him to No 11.
"It's probably his only good memory of cricket, batting ahead of me," Vettori quipped in typical style.
"I wasn't comfortable with where my batting was at and I was disappointed with batting so low and my average and I wanted to turn that around. That'll be one of my prouder achievements in those 100 tests is being able to turn myself from a guy who started 11 to a genuine No 6."
His proudest memory remains the 2-1 series win in England in 1999 and the few overseas one-day tournaments New Zealand have won.
And he's clear cut on his two toughest opponents in those 100 tests.
Bowlers: "Shane Warne; probably the respect thing more than anything, being a fellow spin bowler he's a guy that I love watching bowl and he's the guy who's got me out the most of my career. Those two things combined have made him the most difficult for me."
Batsmen: "I've always said Rahul Dravid is the hardest guy I've found to get out. There's other more destructive batsmen around the world but purely from a guy who can play spin bowling, Dravid has been one of the toughest."
