TRIBUTE
Follow Us“Unless they carry me off on a stretcher, I will be doing all I can,” said Neil Wagner after Day 3 of the first Test against Pakistan in December 2020.
Not always does a quote epitomizes a cricketer. However, soon after Wagner announced his retirement on Tuesday (February 27), his statement from a match four years ago was doing the rounds on social media. Not only because of the cathartic value of the statement but because Wagner lived up to every single word of it in that Test.
While batting first, the southpaw fractured two toes trying to keep out a yorker from Shaheen Afridi. Wagner batted for another 20 balls to extend New Zealand’s score. With the ball, he picked 2/50 in 21 overs in the first innings. Then came the statement on Day 3. In the final innings, Wagner delivered another 28 overs, the most by a pacer in the innings, snaffling 2/55.
He dismissed Fawad Alam for 102 and soon after Faheem Ashraf, the only batter of expertise left with Pakistan. New Zealand needed six wickets in the final session and Wagner pouched two vital wickets. The Kiwis won with less than five overs remaining in the day. Putting his body on the line, Wagner bowled 49 overs, numbing the pain with injections.
For a fast bowler, bowling with fractured toes can be a nightmare, especially for someone like Wagner with a vibrant run-up. The intent in his run-up usually feels like he is heading into a war and doesn’t care if he is the only one fighting from his side. The loud grunt in the delivery stride is like a war cry. The in-your-face celebrations, bordering close to Dale Steyn, persuade his teammates to rally around him. Every element of Wagner’s bowling rubs onto his fellow Black Caps. And it had the same effect on those watching him bowl as well.
Three years after pinning Pakistan down with eight toes, Wagner had a sore foot during the second Test against England in February 2023. Defying the pain again, he picked 4/62, including the final wicket, as New Zealand won by 1 run in a series-leveling victory.
Brendon McCullum, Wagner’s captain for 17 of his first 19 Tests but England’s coach on this instance, said: “Neil Wagner is one of the toughest that I've come across.”
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The Pretoria-born, who moved across from South Africa, played only Test cricket for New Zealand. He retires with 260 Test wickets, the fourth most for a Black Cap pacer. Only Sir Richard Hadlee has a better balls/wicket ratio among the Kiwi pacers with more than 100 Test wickets. Across the globe, Wagner’s strike rate of 52.7 is better than that of Morne Morkel (53.3), Wasim Akram (54.6) and James Anderson (56.2).
However, he leaves the legacy of being one of the best change bowlers in world cricket. The southpaw bowled across 122 Test innings and took the new ball only six times.
Wagner played 64 Tests and shared most of them with Trent Boult and Tim Southee, who were New Zealand’s first-choice new ball seamers. The first-change bowlers were mostly Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson or Doug Bracewell. He wasn’t even the first-choice first-change bowler. It tells you that New Zealand play most of their cricket in conditions that aid swing bowling.
Wagner was most productive as their second-change bowler where he bowled in 59 innings. It is a position teams usually leave for an all-rounder. You can sense it by the highest wicket-taking second-change pacer which is Jacques Kallis with 139 wickets. Wagner is second on the list with 123 wickets (47.3% of his career wickets), followed by Courtney Walsh (mainly a frontline bowler), Ben Stokes, Andrew Flintoff and Dwayne Bravo. He averaged 25.8 as the second-change pacer, much better than when he came to bowl earlier.
Wagner worked as the fourth seamer due to the variety he provided. Although he mostly hit the good length like any other Test seamer, the left-armer hit the back-of-a-length and the short-pitched area more than his pace-bowling comrades.
Wagner grabbed 140 out of 260 wickets pitching the ball short. His lack of height, coupled with sparsity in pace, made him a unique bowler to negotiate. When the swing didn’t work, the left-hander troubled the set batters by raising the ball at an uncomfortable height.
He bowled over the wicket to the right-handers and around the wicket to the left-handers, when he wanted to be at the body of the batters. New Zealand committed to Wagner’s plans with fielders at catching positions on the leg-side. Wagner committed to it with persistence, bowling long spells and forcing the batters to play the ball against their will.
Just ask Steve Smith. Wagner dismissed Smith four times in the series in Australia in 2019/20, once from the back-of-a-length and thrice from the short-pitched region. Smith averaged only 6.8 against the left-armer in those three Tests.
In the build-up of the following series, against India, Smith assessed: “If others (Indian bowlers) want to take that approach (short-pitched bowling at him), then great. It’s not the same as Wagner bowls it.”
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But don’t mistake Wagner for being a one-trick pony. He can fox batters on the fuller side too. Remember the World Test Championship Final in 2021. In a 12-over second spell, he was in a short ball bout with Ravindra Jadeja. The Indian all-rounder kept him at bay until Wagner tricked Jadeja into an outside edge off the fullest delivery of that short-ball barrage.
In a similar vein, there is a tender side to Wagner underneath the coating of a stone-hearted warrior. He broke down into tears in the press conference while announcing his retirement.
Aged 37, the left-hander understood that New Zealand needed to move forward. William O’Rourke’s nine wickets on his Test debut during the second Test against South Africa must have made the call easy for him. Head coach Gary Stead was present with him in the presser as Wagner announced his decision.
Wagner isn’t a part of the Australian series but the Kiwi side invited him to be a part of the build-up, showcasing the two-way trust in the dressing room. Retired from Test cricket, Wagner will continue to materialize his love for the game in domestic cricket.
Wagner isn't the most gifted fast bowler in terms of skillset. But he broke the barrier of limited talent with his utmost passion for the game.
"I've said this in the past: I never saw myself as the most talented or gifted bloke going around in cricket. I just saw myself as someone who loved this game and loved playing for this team, loved playing for my mates and for that Black Cap and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I know that I had to work extremely hard and find different ways and different methods,” Wagner signed off in the press conference highlighting every trait about his art of pace bowling.
