How bad are Santner’s numbers in Tests? Way worse than you think

Two weeks ago, as New Zealand slipped to one of their most embarrassing Test defeats ever, there was all but one Kiwi that showed fight and spine in both the batting innings of the BlackCaps. That was Mitchell Santner, who was the only New Zealand player to cross 20 in the first innings and backed it up with a 67 in the second innings, where he was the last man to be dismissed. 

Admittedly, Santner is not the most talented batter in the New Zealand side but in that game he showed grit, tenacity, determination and fight that some of the other ‘talented’ players didn’t. Now, due to this fact alone, there’d be a strong temptation for the Kiwis to stick with Santner and ‘reward’ him.

However, for their own good, New Zealand might just be better off WITHOUT Santner for the Tests against India.

And it’s got everything to do with his bowling. 

In Galle, Santner brought the fight to Sri Lanka with the bat, but he went wicketless with the ball on a surface in which the Sri Lankan spinners took 19 of the 20 wickets to fall. 

The 0/82 the left-arm spinner registered in the second Test in Galle shot up his bowling average to 42.16 — after a whopping 28 Tests. 

The numbers are indeed as bad as they look: since Santner’s Test debut in November 2015, 23 spinners (part-timers included) have taken 50 or more wickets. Among them, only Joe Root and Roston Chase have a worse average. 

Removing the ‘spinner’ filter, Santner’s strike rate of 91.6 is the worst among ALL BOWLERS who have taken 50 or more wickets since his Test debut. The difference is so stark that the bowler with the next 'worst' strike rate, Root, has managed to strike every 81 balls as compared to Santner's 92. 

In a way, maybe we can cut Santner some slack here because, after all, he’s played most of his Tests in New Zealand where spinners hardly play, let alone influence matches. Playing close to 50% of his Tests at home would surely have affected his numbers. Or so we think. 

Well, turns out, not really. Santner actually averages 29.56 in New Zealand, which is pretty good when you factor in everything. 

It’s what he’s done outside home, particularly in Asia, that’s been underwhelming, to put it lightly. 

So far in his career, the left-arm spinner has played seven Tests in Asia. In those games, he’s averaged an eye-watering 53.29 and has struck once every 100 balls. 

Meaning, you throw the ball to Santner in a Test in Asia and he will, on average, give you less than two wickets after bowling 30 overs. 

Since 2010, there have been 48 spinners who have delivered 1500 or more deliveries in Asia. Among them, only one has registered a worse strike rate than Santner: Dhananjaya de Silva, who is primarily a batter. 

In the same period, only two have registered a worse bowling average in the continent than Santner’s 53.29 — de Silva and Mahmudullah, who is again a batting all-rounder, evident by his average of 33.49. 

Make no mistake, these are baaaadddddd numbers. But it gets a lot worse. 

In Test history, there have been 47 non-Asian spinners who have delivered 1500 or more deliveries in the subcontinent. A grand total of two, yes TWO, bowlers have registered a worse average and strike rate than Santner’s 53.29 and 100.4, respectively. 

The problem with Santner the Test bowler is that he never gets on a roll. Historically, there have always been spinners who’ve had middling numbers but even those bowlers had days and games where they ran through opponents. You know, something ends up clicking every now and then. The perfect storm.

But 28 Tests in, that’s NEVER HAPPENED with Santner. The 32-year-old has bowled in 47 innings in his career, sending down a total of 825.1 overs. He’s never picked up a four-wicket haul, let alone a five-fer. 

Only three others in HISTORY have bowled over 4500 deliveries in Tests and not picked a single 4+ wicket haul: Nathan Astle, Viv Richards and Basil D'Oliveira. 

It’s a rather comical list to be a part of because here you have a bowling all-rounder whose primary role is to pick wickets by bowling spin and well, three other folks who are world class batters who would have walked into their team’s starting XI even if they never bowled a single ball. 

Santner is the odd man out, in a bowling list. Just like how he seems to be in this New Zealand Test side.

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