Don't forget Hauritz - Vettori

Daniel Vettori believes Nathan Hauritz should not be far from the national selectors' thoughts when the Australian summer commences with a Test series against New Zealand in November.

Still about three weeks away from bowling at full tilt as part of his recovery from a dislocated shoulder, 29-year-old Hauritz will not be considered for the tour of Sri Lanka and has seemingly fallen behind Jason Krejza and Michael Beer in calculations for the series beyond.

However Vettori, who will bowl in tandem with Hauritz for the Brisbane Heat in this summer's expanded Twenty20 Big Bash League, said the off spinner's sturdy record in Test matches in Australia should not be forgotten.

Like Graeme Swann an avowed fan of Hauritz's bowling, Vettori said the manner of his demotion from the Australian team, after a poor showing on the 2010 tour of India, may have reflected a lack of understanding about how difficult it can be to bowl finger spin to subcontinental batsmen.

"It's always a tricky situation with a spinner who comes off a tour to India, particularly a finger spinner," Vettori said. "It isn't the easiest place to travel and obviously with the quality of batsmen they have it is almost the ultimate challenge.

"So it is almost hard to say that due to that performance you're not going to be a good spinner in your own country, and he has the proven track record with Australian, particularly in Australia, so I'm sure he'll be given another chance to fight back at some stage.

"I thought he was particularly brave the way he bowled when he came back to the Australian team and that was part of his success. He was exceptionally aggressive.

"Sometimes as a finger spinner, and I've been through it myself, you probably look to defend first and let the guys attack from the other end, but I thought when he bowled he looked to attack the whole time, which is a really good thing for a finger spinner."

As with every other spin bowler in the world, Vettori spent considerable time in Shane Warne's shadow, and suggested it was folly to expect the bowlers who followed Warne to be able to accomplish the same tasks.

"Once again you look at what Warne did and how amazing it was, you're constantly searching to replace that, and it's impossible to replace what he was able to do," Vettori said. "He was able to defend at the right times and he was certainly able to attack at the right times. When you've had that for 15 years it probably leaves you searching for that answer and it's not always easy to find."

On the topic of selection, Vettori endorsed New Zealand's Cricket's new structure, in which the national selection panel was replaced by the national coach John Wright and selection manager Mark Greatbatch overseeing a network of provincial coaches as scouts.

"It is actually the structure that myself and [NZC performance director] Roger Mortimer suggested when we were near those levels and thought it would be a good way to go," Vettori said. "Particularly using the domestic coaches as scouts because they see more cricket than anyone and always the players' gripe around that is that the selectors don't see enough cricket.

"So I think with this structure they've been allowed to alleviate that, and you get two very good people at the top who control the national level and you have the accountability with Mark Greatbatch and John Wright. I see it as a positive move, but we still have to see how it will play out and what we will get to.

"Particularly for the first-class player who wants to be seen on all occasions and wants to be given a chance, I think they know from now on that at any given time someone is going to be watching them for the majority of their innings or their bowling. That information is obviously relayed to the people who take that accountability, so I think it is a nice compromise."