In bad news for those who bet on cricket, Daniel Vettori looks increasingly unlikely to play any part in New Zealand’s Test series against South Africa in the new year after his Big Bash League franchise confirmed he had suffered another injury setback.

BBL side Brisbane Heat revealed on Wednesday their spinner aggravated an injury and will be out of action for another six weeks, putting his place in the NZ Test side in serious doubt.

“Dan had a setback over the weekend and despite his best efforts, he is highly unlikely to be ready in time for our ... matches,” Heat general manager Andrew Blucher revealed.

The news is likely to disappoint fans in the betting world. For Vettori has made numerous withdraws this autumn after failing to recover from Achilles and hernia problems. He also suffered a groin injury in July, over which time New Zealand have fallen to India and drawn with Sri Lanka in the bet365 cricket online.

So with Vettori as good as out of New Zealand’s Test squad, decisions must now be taken on who will spin the ball for the Black Caps in January.

Thirty-two-year-old Jeetan Patel is expected to continue his run in the side as replacement, yet many NZ fans in the betting world are concerned Patel cannot meet the required standard. Patel bowled in New Zealand’s series with Sri Lanka and took just four wickets from four innings; he is a year younger than Vettori yet has just 17 Tests to his name. Vettori has 112 international caps.

Maybe New Zealand selectors should think afresh and go with reserve spinner Todd Astle. At 26 years old Astle is hardly an up-and-coming youngster and his only Test appearance, against Sri Lanka in Colombo, yielded just one wicket for 77 runs.

Yet Astle is something new and New Zealand should be looking at fresh blood for the South Africa Test in effort to instil some spark into this flickering side. The legbreaker still has time on his side to develop into a seasoned Test spinner and, if Vettori’s injuries continue, New Zealand may come to rely on Astle over the next five years.

Even before wondering that, shouldn't one wonder whether an IPL team even wants Shahid Afridi or not.

Unfortunately Afridi did not have my new UK number, otherwise we would have surely met!

More seriously though, I just found out that Afridi was at Old Trafford Football Club last night for a charity event.

I would have definitely turned up had I known about this before hand; maybe made some donations too.

In other news, Afridi has turned down an offer to play for Tasmania in Australia's Big Bash 20-20 tournament later this year.

Pakistan will be touring New Zealand and Australia from November to January, which will clash with Australia's domestic 20-20 competition.

That's why Afridi decided to turn the offer down.

But Tasmania? I thought it was New South Wales that was interesting in him.