Santner Claw is open to scrutiny
injured then let’s improve their physical attributes so on-field they dominate.’’
So are they ahead of the other sides in world cricket?
Donaldson said the New Zealand players stacked up extremely well when comparing numbers with other team trainers.
‘‘Our average yo-yo is 20.2 across the team and that’s extremely high as a group. We’ve got some extremely fit guys, good athletes.
‘‘The fast bowlers have to be top of the ranks because they generate the most force. They should be fittest and fastest, they have to deal with the highest impact so they have to be able to cope.
‘‘We have to be the best at what we do because we don’t have the population base of cricketers that other countries have. We’ve got to better than everyone else in what we can control which is fitness and conditioning.’’
Hesson likened it to a horse trainer and a thoroughbred: you can’t keep rolling players out and expect them to be at their peak.
Hence the rest and rotation, and the value of off-season breaks Boult, especially, came back at the peak of his powers in India in October after a quiet few months with minimal bowling and base fitness work.
‘‘They’re not robots. What they do is tough and they need to build up that base again to have another push at it. Trent and Tim are both really integral parts of our side and we have to look after them.’’ NOW for Mitchell Santner’s next trick.
Having unveiled his mystery ball – the Santner Claw, if you will – the New Zealand left-arm spinner’s next task is trying to somehow disguise it from Australian and English batsmen next month.
Santner was captain Kane Williamson’s go-to man as Pakistan stormed back into the fifth oneday international in Wellington on Friday, ending with 3-40 in the Black Caps’ 15-run win, which saw them sweep the series 5-0.
In game four in Hamilton he bamboozled Fakhar Zaman with a carrom ball in the mould of India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis. Flicked out with the middle finger, in the same style used in the traditional Indian carrom game, the ball spun the other way to Santner’s orthodox delivery and bowled Zaman as he charged.
There’s one problem now. Everyone knows about it, so the mystery ball somehow has to become mysterious again.
‘‘I’ve been trying it in the nets for a while now. It’s like a carrom ball, a similar grip to Ashwin. If the wicket suits I use it a little bit more,’’ Santner said.
‘‘But you guys have been analysing it quite a bit now so I might have to put it away . . . I might have to try and disguise it a bit more because every time I look up it’s on the big screen.’’
Santner doesn’t have a name for his new delivery but said he wasn’t averse to Santner Claw. He watched Ashwin bowl his carrom ball against New Zealand in the 2016 test series and modelled his grip on the Indian offspinner’s.
‘‘I thought ‘that’s not a bad ball’ and thought I’d give it a crack. I used it in county cricket in some of the Twenty20 stuff over there. On a wicket that spins it’s a bit better because it’s hard to put a lot of revs on it because I’m just flicking it out.’’
For Santner, well established as New Zealand’s premier white ball bowler, it adds another element to his game on top of subtle changes of pace in the mould of Daniel Vettori.
Legspinners like his T20 partner in crime Ish Sodhi have the googly that turns the other way, so now Santner has another bowling weapon to create doubt in the batsman’s mind.
After the three-match T20 series against Pakistan, starting at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium tomorrow, New Zealand take on Australia and England in a T20 tri-series before five ODIs against England.
‘‘They are a very good ODI side and so are Aussie. England come out very hot and go from ball one and look to continue. If we can get some wickets at the top and try to stem that run rate a little bit.’’