Will Black Caps turn to Mitchell Santner to save England Series?

By Alex Powell

Down 1-0 in their three-test series against England, whether or not the Black Caps turn to Mitchell Santner as their spin saviour remains to be seen.

With both sides having relocated to Wellington for the second test, beginning on Friday, the Black Caps will have to consider if they want to make changes to an XI that ultimately fell short in Christchurch.

However, while test defeats can generally cause panic in a rare three-test series, Black Caps captain Tom Latham’s comments suggest the baby won’t be thrown out with the bathwater.

In particular, New Zealand’s failings at Hagley Oval can be put down to eight dropped catches in England’s first innings, five of which allowed Harry Brook to make 171 after first being given a lifeline on 18.

But, as was the case with Nathan Smith’s test debut being unofficially confirmed by the Black Caps’ media schedule in Christchurch, 32-year-old left-arm spinner Santner fronting the cameras on Tuesday could be a sign that a change is coming.

Ultimately though, as is the case with tests in Aotearoa, pitch conditions will ultimately decide who’s in, and who’s out.

“We’ll wait and see,” Santner said. “We’re still a few days out.

“It looks pretty green at the moment, but we’ll wait.”

While the Basin Reserve has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for seam bowlers, its last test match did flip the script.

Earlier this year, Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon took 10/108 as New Zealand crashed to a 172-run defeat, making a mockery of the green pitch that greeted both teams on day one. That same test saw spinner Glenn Phillips take 5/45 in Australia’s second innings.

However, that came at the end of New Zealand’s summer, as opposed to the start, where warmer and dryer weather can see spin come to the fore.

If the Black Caps are to swap Santner in for one of their four frontline fast bowlers – Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke or Nathan Smith – it would be in a holding role, rather than a wicket-taking option.

But three days out from the first ball, Santner knows the state of the wicket will ultimately decide if he plays, or runs the drinks.

“I’ve had a look at the pitch, it looks pretty green,” he said.

“We tend to know how it plays here. The wind can play a big factor in conditions, and drying the pitch out. But we’ll have a little go tomorrow at training.

“Traditionally it has favoured the seamers. It was just the one last year that kind of spun, which was a shock for everyone when we played Australia.

“We’re still not sure, but traditionally it can be quite friendly for the seamers, and then flatten out.”

If he is picked, Santner will hope that he performs half as well as he did in his last test.

After the Black Caps took a 1-0 series lead against India in Bangalore with three seamers, Santner returned to the side for the second test in Pune.

And despite questions over his place in the XI, a 13-wicket haul vindicated the faith of coach Gary Stead, as New Zealand handed India a first home series defeat since 2012.

In fact, that 13-wicket haul represented just shy of 20% of Santner’s total test wickets.

However, as was the case with spin bowlers Will Young and Ajaz Patel, Kiwi conditions dictated Santner sat out of Christchurch.

But while Santner knows conditions will be the polar opposite should he take the field at the Basin, the experience of India is enough for him to take confidence into potentially facing England.

“If it was like Pune, I’d be pretty happy. But it was great to be part of that series. It was great to be part of that series, all three games were pretty different.

“Everyone chipped in at different times, which was good for the squad and good for us going forward.

“We’ll look to turn around [Christchurch] pretty quickly.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission