Leslie, I know you don't like Vettori but he is a vital player in our side. He really gives it some great depth/balance. As a spinner unless we're on a turner he isn't a huge wicket taker however he does create pressure and stops scoring. Patel is the type who is either going to take a bagfull or get smashed. When we want a wicket we don't throw the ball to Vettori we throw it to Mills or Martin or Southee. to help create pressure and stop scoring dead we have Vettori at the other end.
As a batsman he is vey important. Most sides would love a good test bowler that can dig them out of the poo when needed down at number 8. England for example would be keen on him as their top order is rather fragile too atm.
IMO if we drop a seamer we drop Martin or Southee. Its such a harsh call if we drop Martin but he isn't as destructive as the other seamers, which says alot for the quality of our seam attack. Martin is the reliable workhorse (sorta in the Hoggard vein) but I honestly believe next season if we're back at full strength he will be the first reserve seamer. As a frontline bowler he doesn't have the X factor of Mills or Franklin and Southee looks really special at this early stage. Martin is excellent but his role shortly will be as the reliable, sometimes destructive, reserve bowler that will come into the side when needed.
What if Franklin decides to stop bowling and like Ian Butler, decides to concentrate on batting. From what I read in the news, he's keen on becoming a batting all rounder, ie, if he comes back, he has to impress through the bat, and bowls a bit. He will take over Oram's spot if Oram breaks down ALA Bond style.
This is a potentially "bowlers who converted to allrounder" team in the very near future...
Mills (bowler all rounder)
Southee (bowler all rounder)
Franklin (bowler all rounder)
Vettori (bowler all rounder)
Oram (batsman all rounder)
I hope Martin decides to retire so we don't have the dilemma.
I also have a feeling in the near future Oram will have to compete as a batsman only. He can't be expected to bowl long spells (Broad did this for England while Sidey and Anderson rested), and his batting is more suited to ODI and 20 20.
I sure as hell hope we don't end up having bowlers who can't bowl fast, Martin is the only fast bowler, the rest are medium-fast, and I stress the word medium.
With the bowling chart it's pretty obvious the difference bet NZ and England atm. We need a consistent wicket taker bowler ALA Sidebottom. Now don't tell me we don't have any, because Sidebottom, before this series started, isn't rated as highly as your Steyns, Ntini, Sharmas of this world. He takes wickets you can argue thanks to us gifting some of those wickets to him, but he also has a devastating spell in him. We don't have any bowler that can do that since Martin's shocking 5 for something or rather against the Saffas a few seasons back.
A bowler who can get a purple patch going in one of his spells and get a lot of wickets in a short amount of time. And you can't say the conditions didn't suit either, Sidey got his 7 wickets on a flat deck, and Wellington deck, Anderson prospered. Why didn't our bowlers penetrate as well as them?