A New Zealand XI has just recorded a fairly convincing win against Somerset in the first warm-up match of the Kiwis’ tour to England. With many of the big names in the Black Caps squad being unavailable for selection at the moment, it has been the rookies for New Zealand that have stepped up and made the big impact.
One of these newbies is Mitchell Santner, a 23-year-old left-arm slow orthodox bowler ,who is fairly handy with the bat. He plies his trade with the Northern Districts in New Zealand (a domestic team who currently has bragging rights to nearly the entire New Zealand test team).
Having made his first-class debut in 2011 against Otago in Dunedin, he has gone on to score 952 runs in 35 innings, with a high score of 118. His bowling figures read 25 wickets in 30 innings with an economy of 3.26 and average of 55.60. While his figures with both bat and ball may not scream “pick me”, Santner has done enough to justify consideration and selectors have gladly obliged.
His selection came on the back of his first full season with the Knights playing all three formats; the youngster claims his call-up was a surprise to him, considering he anticipated it to take a few years before he might be promoted to help fill the massive shoes of Kiwi legend Dan Vettori.
Already the comparisons have been made between Santner and Vettori. Regardless of whether it is their style of bowling or their abilities with the bat in the lower-middle order, it will take many more games and many more years before they can be compared fairly.
While his first innings for New Zealand was clearly his innings to break the nerves, his second innings was his time to shine with an impressive score of 94. While he was unable to convert to a century, his ability to come in when he did and score the runs in a concerted and steady manner show he is capable of performing when and how he needs to. Having bowled just one over in the entire match, his job was with the bat, walking out at number three.
The conditions were difficult for both teams, regardless of your talent or experience, but his performances immediately dampened any speculation that his selection was random or careless.
Santner was originally selected to play the limited-over game thanks to his versatile batting and fairly economic bowling that will surely be put to the test against the English. However, the IPL has afforded him the chance to don the whites with many of the go-to players gifting their talents in India.
Santner will be the only player out of the three rookies who joined the tour to remain in England after the second warm-up game as he has been selected for the ODI squad.
With the up and coming youngsters outshining the bigger names within the squad, the depth of New Zealand Cricket is beginning to be shown and proving to be very valuable with both bat and ball, considering the gaps that are looking to be filled thanks to the latest batch of players retiring from the game.
