It's no wonder Daniel Vettori is such a competitor.

Christmas-time in the backyard must have been Hell.

While Vettori and his older brother Nicholas could work out a reasonable game of cricket between themselves, they have some pretty useful sporting cousins to keep them honest.

All Black five-eighth David Hill is a cousin.

Now a member of the Chiefs rugby franchise, he was selected as an All Black rugby five-eighth for the first time last year after playing for Waikato, and earlier played for Marlborough and Southland in the National Provincial Championship. His mother and Vettori's father are brother and sister.

Hill's father, Tony, also happens to be a former first-class cricketer. He was a batsman for Central Districts in the mid-1970s, and is not the international umpire standing in New Zealand at the moment.

But David was a good enough cricketer to play for Marlborough in Hawke Cup cricket, and his brother, Joseph Hill played for Central Districts last year and sports the middle name Vettori.

And there could be another member of the family soon to make his mark. James Hill, a younger brother of David and Joseph, was in the Gillette Cup-winning Wellington College team last year. He scored 55 and took two for 23 in the final.

"Christmas Days were pretty interesting," Vettori said of the backyard cricket battles that developed.

"David lives in Hamilton now so we see each other all the time. I'm very happy for him with his rugby and I hope he gets over his wrist injury pretty quickly."

© CricInfo