NZ brains trust have misread wickets
Black Caps coach Gary Stead concedes they haven’t done a good job in reading the wickets in recent tests. New Zealand are coming off a comprehensive 172-run loss to Australia in the first test at the
Basin Reserve, with the second and final test starting in Christchurch on Friday.
In Wellington, Australian spinner Nathan Lyon took 10 wickets, while New Zealand parttime spinners Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips took six.
Stead admitted they misread the wicket in the second test against South Africa in Hamilton and the one at the Basin and says that’s a worry.
“It is definitely,” Stead said. “If we knew (the Basin) was going to bounce, then Santner would have played, so yeah, we got that wrong.
“It’s not what we expected and not what we’ve seen from the Basin Reserve in the past either.”
So why have they misread home wickets?
“I think a little bit it’s been the dryness of our summer has made a difference to what we normally see here,” said Stead.
“We put our hands up as well and see we haven’t got it right but, again, we’ve been trying to balance it over five days and not just one or two days.
“To be fair, the last two pitches (Hamilton and Wellington) have certainly spun and bounced more than we expected them to and that’s something we haven’t seen in the past.”
Despite the five-wicket bag for Phillips against Australia, Stead indicated that Santner remains the Black Caps’ number one spinner.
“Mitch has been around international cricket for a long time and he’s had his share of knocks but he’s the guy we have trust in.
“We’ll certainly go to Hagley (for the second test) and see what the make-up of the team will be.”