Michael Atherton slammed New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori today, accusing him of being "downright rude" before the start of the First Test.

Former England captain Atherton believes Vettori's decision to turn up late for the tour because he was playing for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League has left the Kiwis under-prepared and riven by jealousy.

While Vettori and four other tourists - Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor - were earning extra cash, their team-mates struggled through the opening tour matches against MCC and Kent.

The quintet eventually turned up in time to play against Essex, leaving themselves a fortnight to prepare for the Test series. Vettori immediately injured his spinning finger and has yet to complete a full match on tour.

Yet Vettori, who was signed up for £310,000 for his stint in the IPL, said: "I'm not worried about how it looks. We go away on most tours and don't have any warm-up games."

But Atherton, in his column in The Times today, points out that the Kiwis do play warm-up matches at the start of tours.

He writes: "Can you imagine the hoo-ha if the England captain had not arrived with his team? The end of amateurism was supposed to put a stop to all that.

"How do the rest of your boys feel? A little jealous? It's not as if you could say, 'We're all in this together boys' with a straight face. A captain should not ask his players to do anything he is not prepared to do. Such as turn up on time."

Atherton questions whether Taylor, who has scored 26 runs from his four first-class knocks against Essex and the England Lions, has come to terms with English conditions and if pace bowler Mills has had time to get used to the Duke ball, given he has had only one outing here so far.

Atherton concludes: "You did not have to accept the captaincy of your country. But to accept and then turn up with just over half a team is downright rude."