A marathon week had little effect on Daniel Vettori as he starred with bat and ball to lead Northern Districts to a crucial six-wicket Twenty20 cricket victory over Wellington in Mt Maunganui today.
Fresh from jetting from Invercargill to Sydney to Auckland in little over 24 hours - and starring for Queensland in the Australian competition - Vettori was again the go-to man for the hosts at Blake Park.
The New Zealand captain took the key wickets of internationals Owais Shah and James Franklin in a spell of two for 19, then cracked 39 off 32 balls as Northern cruised to their target of 120 with 3.3 overs to spare.
The win, Northern's third from six matches, was much-needed to stay in contention for the final while Wellington's finals aspirations were buried with their fourth defeat of the season.
Having won the toss, Wellington's innings never got going against an accurate home attack, for whom test paceman Tim Southee had the best figures of two for 17.
Vettori struck the crucial blows, trapping topscorer Shah leg before wicket for 29 and having Franklin caught by Southee for 20.
Northern's new Sri Lankan import Tillakaratne Dilshan, fresh off the plane from international duty, had a quiet debut with bowling figures of two for eight off two overs before he was dismissed for four by Franklin.
But the hosts didn't need his heroics as opener Peter McGlashan scored 43 off 38 deliveries to add 61 with Vettori for the second wicket.
When Vettori departed it was 95 for three in the 15th over, and the polish was applied by Anton Devcich who finished the match with three huge sixes to be 18 not out off four balls.
