However, the finest example of this trend is New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who refuses to bat higher than eight in the face of overwhelming evidence that maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea if he did. Vettori has three Test hundreds and an average of 42.64 batting at eight. Clearly New Zealand are using their top seven to take the shine off the ball and for nothing more than that.
Perhaps that isn't such a bad tactic. Opening batsmen are there to endure the difficult conditions early on. New Zealand have just taken this a step further by selecting a series of specialist night-watchmen to endure the difficult conditions later on, even later on and a bit later on still - at which point Vettori emerges to showcase the heave and the nurdle. He is perhaps the finest number eight in the history of a country littered with them - albeit number eights in a completely different sport.
Second paragraph is loltastic.