Fleming to play for Yorkshire and Vettori to play for Nottinghamshire

From New Zealand Cricket, 11 June 2003

Two senior TelstraClear Black Caps have taken short-term contracts with English county teams during the New Zealand winter.

TelstraClear Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming has signed an 11-week contract with Yorkshire and Daniel Vettori has signed a five-week contract with Nottinghamshire.

Both players have signed their contracts with the endorsement of New Zealand Cricket.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said he was happy for both players to take the opportunity to work on their games in the county environment.

"Many international players find county cricket beneficial in terms of their development," said Snedden.

Fleming, who has previously played county cricket for Middlesex, will be available to play for Yorkshire from this Saturday, June 14 up until August 31.

He said he was looking forward to an opportunity to work solely on his batting without the responsibility of captaincy.

"I will have the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with the coach and captain but my primary job for Yorkshire will be to score runs and take catches.

"Right now I feel I'm going through a growth spurt in terms of my batting development and I want to take every opportunity to consolidate this.

"There are still things I want to try and areas of my game I want to advance and during my time with Yorkshire I will have the forum to do this exclusively."

Fleming leaves for England this Thursday, June 15.

TelstraClear Black Caps left-arm spin bowler Daniel Vettori will temporarily take the place of Australian spinner Stuart MacGill in the Nottinghamshire team. MacGill will be touring with Australia.

Vettori said he was looking forward to the experience.

"I'm excited about my first taste of county cricket and look forward to a change of environment.

"The workload will also benefit me.

"When I start with Nottinghamshire I will have had a six week break since the end of the Sri Lankan tour and I will then have another break of over as month at the conclusion of my contract before our tour of India."

Vettori leaves for England in the last week of June and returns to New Zealand in the first week of August.