Nice to come over here and see some spinning wickets: Santner

Not always, Mitchell Santner hogs the headline in New Zealand. Not because he is not good - he does the holding job better than anyone, but part of playing for New Zealand is to deal with wickets that are normally not suitable for spinners. 

In India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Santner reveled in the glory against the Netherlands and became the first Kiwi spinner to take a five-wicket haul in the ODI World Cup. The spinner admitted that he had to be a little more aggressive in Indian conditions, something that is alien to his role back home.

“It's obviously nice to come over here and see some spinning wickets because they're few and far between back in New Zealand,” Santner said in the post-match press conference. “I guess the role in New Zealand is slightly different to here. You want to be a little bit more aggressive. You keep your slips in for longer. I try to operate with that mid-on up most of the time, only having three back, trying to make them play big shots. And if it is spinning, yeah, the role is kind of more aggressive. 

“And then I think we'll see at times throughout this tournament in some of the grounds where it might be, okay, it's pretty flat, it might be that defensive role for a little bit, try to get wickets through pressure. And then if it is, like tonight, if there is a little bit of spin, it might be, all right, let's be more aggressive. Let's throw it up, leave the slip in. And so that was nice. I think Rachin bowled extremely well as well, that kind of same mentality of always trying to get wickets through the middle.”

Even though Kane Williamson returned to the New Zealand side and even had a decent amount of match practice in the warm-up games, he has sat out of the first two encounters against Pakistan and Netherlands. His availability for the Bangladesh encounter isn’t clear yet, but Santner stated that Williamson looked good in the nets.

“Kane's looking good. He's hitting a lot of balls in the nets, and I don't think he was obviously quite fit tonight. We've still got a few days before the next game, a couple more training so I guess the team will make a call then if he's ready to play, but yeah, he's chomping at the bit; he wants to come in. But I guess it's more down to the medical team and where they think he's at. But yeah, no doubt when he comes back, it's going to be good for us,” the spinner added.