All-round Astle pips Sodhi to tour spot
A glowing endorsement from batting legend Rahul Dravid, and superior fitness and all-round skills saw Todd Astle edge ahead of Ish Sodhi on the Black Caps spin merry-go-round.
Astle’s selection ahead of fellow legspinner Sodhi, and 20-year-old Glenn Phillips’ callup as power batsman and backup wicketkeeper ahead of Tom Blundell and Tim Seifert were the talking points of the completed squads for India named on Saturday.
The 31-year-old from Canterbury was consistently among the best domestic bowlers across the formats but, after two tests and two Twenty20 internationals since his debut five years ago, Astle looked to be running out of chances.
That changed with one, stunning spell of 4-22 for New Zealand A against India A last week which selector Gavin Larsen witnessed, and said couldn’t be understated.
‘‘Nine overs, four for 22 against very good opposition with a dampish ball that was hard to control. He didn’t bowl a bad ball in that spell. The one and only Rahul Dravid said to me he told his team that he’d just witnessed one of the best legspin displays in Indian conditions. That’s some accolade,’’ Larsen said.
Now, with Jeetan Patel retired, Astle is set for a long-awaited ODI debut alongside Mitchell Santner in spin-friendly India where the three-match series starts next Sunday night (NZT). Consistency remained a big work-on for Astle, said Larsen, but his all-round skill also helped, both batting ability and athleticism in the field.
Intended or not, that was a reasonably pointed reference that Sodhi now has to be exceptional with the ball in a world of multiskilled cricketers, given his modest fielding and batting.
Said Larsen of Sodhi: ’’We all know what a good bowler Ish is. He needs to keep working hard on his fitness. It’s been trying conditions for him over here, but I stress he’s still got a massive future in New Zealand Cricket.’’
Sodhi was thrown the new ball for NZA against India A and took 0-56 off nine as Astle starred in the tied match at Visakhapatnam. A day later Astle opened the bowling and took 1-49 off eight and Sodhi snared 2-31 off five.
Phillips’ 140 not out off 130 balls at No 3 in that tied match helped win him an ODI spot ahead of Blundell and Seifert in the threeway race. Effectively it came down to batting more than glovework, and with Tom Latham almost certain to take the ODI gloves and bat five or six, Phillips is there as backup but could be considered as a batsman only.
‘‘That was one of the most outstanding white ball innings I’ve seen in very trying conditions against a quality attack. He looked very much an international player,’’ Larsen said.
‘‘... Right at the moment we feel it’s better for [Blundell and Seifert] to return to domestic cricket and shoot the lights out.‘‘
George Worker also got the nod after scoring 108 off 113 balls in NZA’s 64-run defeat on Friday, where Phillips was his opening partner and scored six. The explosive Colin Munro remains favourite to partner Martin Guptill at the top despite scores of 22 and 29 at the top so far.
From the NZA squad, Astle, Phillips, Worker, Munro, Matt Henry and Henry Nicholls were the six elevated to the Black Caps 15.
Sodhi and the explosive Tom Bruce come in for the T20 series at the expense of Worker and Ross Taylor, with the latter still unwanted as a T20 international.