Opener’s sacrifices paying off
Spinner Ajaz Patel has received another late Black Caps callup, this time for the one-day internationals against Pakistan with Todd Astle rated a 50-50 chance of remaining on tour.
Coach Gary Stead confirmed Patel, opener George Worker and fast bowler Lockie Ferguson as the final names in the 15-man squad for the three-match ODI series starting on Thursday (1am NZT).
Left-armer Patel, who made a tidy debut in the first Twenty20 after being a late addition, was summoned as cover for legspinner Astle whose knee injury has Stead concerned.
Already without World Cup certainties Martin Guptill (calf) and Mitchell Santner (knee), the squad farewelled Corey Anderson who returns home for a scan on the heel injury that ruled him out of the third T20 when Pakistan completed a 3-0 clean sweep.
Astle was a strong chance to fill Santner’s spin bowling allrounder spot in the ODIs but will definitely miss game one and is touch and go for the rest, which opens the door for Patel to potentially partner Ish Sodhi again.
Having played well for New Zealand A, Astle took a few days off to rest what was described as a kneecap irritation. He trained on Monday with Stead rating him 50-50 although his condition had improved.
‘‘It’s a wait and see how Todd scrubs up tomorrow and we’ll have more of an idea whether When Andrew Fletcher started his ‘other’ career, he quickly discovered what his holidays would entail.
The Wellington Firebirds opener, who has made a sensational start to his domestic representative Ford Trophy career, works part-time for accounting software firm Xero.
‘‘I finished my degree at the end of 2016 and when I started I let them know I would have quite a lot of A cricket coming up and they said ‘that’s fine, just take your annual leave for it’.
‘‘Which stung but it had to be done,’’ Fletcher said. ‘‘A lot of my mates thought I was nuts – it’s the sort of sacrifices you have to make.’’
Fletcher said his ‘opening partnership’ with his employers has been amazing. ‘‘They’re all big fans – when I walked in after my performances they’ve given me big rounds of applause and made me feel very, very embarrassed in the workplace.’’
The 25-year-old has given his colleagues good reason to cheer – in four one-day innings, Fletcher has made two centuries and tallied 357 runs at an average of 119. Not only does he have more than 100 runs than the next-best trophy batsman, he’s on track to break the record for most runs in a NZ List A campaign.
Some effort from a guy who wondered if his chance of playing for Wellington had passed.
‘‘Those thoughts definitely go through your mind,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s been times when I thought about maybe hanging up the boots and pursuing my other career, but it’s been a dream of mine since I was very young so I’m grateful I had the presence of mind to stick with it.’’
Fletcher is quick to disassociate himself from individual praise however.
‘‘It’s been good to get off to a winning start with the team – I’m pretty thankful to be able to contribute where I can.
‘‘My initial goal was to try my best to put in my performances so we could win. I didn’t put too many figures in my mind – just to contribute in any way I can; that goes with the team values of the Wellington Firebirds.’’
He acknowledged the nerves when he faced the first ball of his Wellington oneday career against Canterbury and Black Caps paceman Matt Henry, but quickly
he’s a chance for the second and third ODIs. If the answer is no it’s probably going to rule him out for the tests as well,’’ Stead said.
New Zealand return to Abu Dhabi where Patel and Sodhi took a combined 2-51 off eight overs and they fell two runs short of Pakistan’s 148-6 in the T20 series opener. Since then, Pakistan spinners Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan clearly outpointed New Zealand’s notably when the
tourists lost 8-23 on Monday to be skittled for 119 in game three.
‘‘T20 cricket can be so hit and miss so it can be hard to get a good gauge. Purely on figures and results we would have hoped to get more out of our spinners but the areas they’ve been landing haven’t been that bad,’’ Stead said.‘‘Pakistan are very good players of spin and we haven’t made the inroads higher up the order.’’