New Zealand left-arm spinner set to play his 100th ODI, with Australia sweating over his kind of bowling in Dharamsala
Sidharth Monga27-Oct-20231:01
What makes Mitchell Santner so effective?
Every little while during Australia’s training session in Dharamsala, one of their coaches would go to the tent in the back where the net bowlers sat, and signal for a left-arm spinner. Almost every batter either wanted to face left-arm spin, or was asked to face left-arm spin.It should come as no surprise. In their two defeats in this World Cup, against India and South Africa, Australia were tripped up by left-arm spin. Ravindra Jadeja got Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne to derail their innings in Chennai, and Keshav Maharaj returned figures of 10-0-30-2 in Lucknow. And now Australia are coming up against one of the best bowlers in the tournament – Mitchell Santner, who has taken 12 wickets and has gone at just 4.25 runs an over. Only Adam Zampa has taken more wickets, but he hasn’t exerted the kind of control Santner has.Santner doesn’t have the late release of Jasprit Bumrah, the wristspin of Kuldeep Yadav or the height of Marco Jansen. He is a fingerspinner who has done a defensive job for far too long; who is now a kid in a candy shop because there are pitches with a little bit of purchase at this World Cup. Santner has drawn a false response every five balls in this tournament: pretty similar to Kuldeep, and behind Bumrah, Maharaj and Josh Hazlewood, who have been doing it once every four balls.Related
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Santner has survived this long in limited-overs cricket primarily because of his pace variations. He has a wider range of pace variations than perhaps any other spinner: he can go from under 70kph to around 105kph without really settling on a “stock speed”. Watch him from square on and you can appreciate the beauty of his release points: early to bowl slower and flight it, but holding it back when trying to bowl into the pitch and quicker.Tom Latham, Santner’s captain for the moment, spoke highly of his left-arm spinner. “We’ve seen the work that he’s put in day in day out,” Latham said. “And the performances that he’s had not only in the one-day game, but also in the T20 game. He’s had many experiences over here and the IPL for a few years now, so he understands what he brings; and conditions back home obviously don’t suit spin as much.”Seeing him come here and apply his skill, and do what he’s pretty much done for us for a long period of time… It’s nice for him to get a few rewards for the hard work that he’s put in. So he’s obviously been a valued member of the side for a long time and I guess he’s able to bowl in every situation – whether that be at the top, in the first ten, through the middle and at the back end.””I had to learn my trade a little bit on the job in international cricket” – Mitchell Santner ahead of his 100th ODI•ICC/Getty ImagesIn this World Cup, Santner’s guile has been assisted by the conditions, and what better place than this then to bring up his 100th ODI. He looked back at how much he had to develop after entering international cricket just after the 2015 World Cup.”You are kind of just happy to play one game for your country,” Santner said. “Looking back now, it’s pretty special, and I guess at the time [in] 2015, I had played one-and-a-half seasons of domestic cricket. So when I did get the call-up, it was a bit surprising. But I probably wouldn’t have had it any other way. I had to learn my trade a little bit on the job in international cricket.”A lot of the bowling coaches along the way have helped me. Obviously Jugo [Shane Jurgensen, New Zealand’s bowling coach] has played a big part later on. In the early days, it was a bit more of bowling with Daniel Vettori, which was quite cool. And then, Jeetan Patel at times as well.”What we’ve done really well as a spin unit is talk between each other a lot. I guess me and Ish [Sodhi] have done it for a little while now, and you know, at times I am his bowling coach and at times he’s my bowling coach. I still obviously keep in contact with Jeet and Dan, which is quite cool.”Vettori is an assistant coach in the opposition camp now. An opposition that is sweating on just his kind of bowling even though the conditions in Dharamsala might be more conducive for seam bowlers. That is tribute enough.
