Young legspinner a wicket-taking threat
It takes something special for a year 9 student to be a member of his school’s first XI cricket team.
But Adi Ashok was, four years ago at Mt Albert Grammar School in Auckland, and now he’s representing his country on the world stage.
The 17-year-old legspinner has been included in New Zealand’s squad for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa – which begins this weekend – and will be one of the team’s key players, even though he is young enough to go again two years from now.
He took 3-35 off nine overs as the team completed their preparations with a narrow win over Bangladesh this week, claiming the key wicket of opposition captain Akbar Ali.
That followed a haul of 3-54 in their shock loss to the United Arab Emirates.
Tony Sail has been Ashok’s coach at Mt Albert Grammar for the past four years and said he had enjoyed watching him develop during that time.
‘‘He was just a really good kid right from the start, in terms of work ethic and having a passion for the game and a love for the game. And he spun the ball big.’’
Ashok was the leading wicket-taker at the national under-17 tournament at the start of last year, claiming 17 scalps. He also plays for Mt Albert’s first XI hockey team, and will be a prefect when he begins year 13 later this month – an indication he is not just finding success on the cricket field.
‘‘What’s changed since he was in year 9?’’ posed Sail. ‘‘Nothing really, he’s just been a real constant, and that’s his strength. He’s taken his highs and his lows and he’s grown up really nicely.’’
It’s a cricketing truism that spinners need the backing of their captains in order to succeed and Ashok had a good one when he arrived on the first XI scene in Katene Clarke – who played in the previous Under-19 World Cup and has made a strong start to senior domestic cricket with Northern Districts.
‘‘He was captain and he wanted [Ashok] in the team because he recognised his value as a bowler and his ability to attack,’’ Sail said.
‘‘Katene set good fields and looked after him and bowled him at the right time and took him under his wing really.
‘‘So many spinners don’t get that at that age. They get bad fields and they’re told not to go for runs.’’
Ashok works closely with former Black Caps legspinner Tarun Nethula on the technical side of his game and is eager to continue learning.
‘‘I heard someone talking about [Wellington Firebirds youngster] Rachin Ravindra, and how he’s the model cricketer in terms of training before and after practices, and Adi does that,’’ Sail said.
‘‘We’ve got to slow him down a little bit sometimes, we’ve tried to stop him training a little bit, and to get him to pull back, but he likes a big bowling load, and he understands his body and what he can do, and that he needs a lot of work to keep his rhythm going.’’
New Zealand’s campaign begins tonight [NZ time] when they face Japan, who are making their first appearance at this level. Their other group stage fixtures are on Wednesday against Sri Lanka, and Friday against India. The top two in each group advance to the quarterfinals.
The Kiwis have struggled in the leadup to the tournament, beating Zimbabwe once, but losing to them again, as well as to India and South Africa in a quadrangular series this month, before splitting their final two official warmup matches.