Undercover mystery
Stress levels high over state of Basin pitch
Forget trying to tailor a second test pitch to suit the home side. Basin Reserve groundsman Hagen Faith just wants to actually start preparing it.
Closing in on two days out from Thursday’s second cricket test between New Zealand and South Africa, Faith said his stress levels were ‘‘high’’ with every drop of rain that kept tumbling in Wellington. In fact he was one nervous man, as should be the top-order batsmen from both sides.
‘‘We haven’t seen the wicket since Friday afternoon. It’s a bit of a guessing game at this stage,’’ Faith said yesterday.
‘‘We’ve had 70mm of rain since then and we’re praying all this misty rain disappears pretty quick so we can lift the covers and see where we’re at.’’
Lifting the covers is one thing, actually preparing the surface is another. With more rain and a chilly 15degC southerly forecast for today, Faith and his staff are unlikely to get much mowing or rolling done. More showers are predicted for tomorrow, before it clears for day one.
Certainly there will be some intrigued and anxious batsmen strolling to the centre when both sides train at the Basin Reserve.
‘‘We’ve been forecast southerly winds and for us that’s very minimal drying. Your hands are tied in terms of what you can do with watering.
‘‘With the weather we’ve had we’re just trying to produce the best wicket possible. It’s been pretty tough going. We’re focusing on getting the surface hard and having the wicket ready for day one. That’s the ultimate goal. The weather is playing tricks with us.’’
Faith has been on the Basin ground staff for the past eight years and this will be his third test pitch in charge, after Australia and Bangladesh. Australia was very green and seamed around for the first two sessions, enough for New Zealand to collapse before it flattened out, and Bangladesh in
"We're praying all this misty rain disappears pretty quick so we can lift the covers and see where we're at." Hagen Faith, Basin groundsman
January saw the tourists post 595 and still lose.
The pitch’s history of a solid base and good pace and bounce something for batsmen and quicks who bend their backs - is providing comfort for Faith. He was comfortable with how the pitch was on Friday before it went into four-day hibernation, and wasn’t about to advise the toss-winning captain what to do.
‘‘We haven’t had any heat so there will be some green to the leaf on the wicket. If you have a look at recent results it has been a bowl first wicket but the team batting first has come up with the chocolates at times as well. It’s not necessarily come down to the toss.
‘‘A lot of first-class stuff has gone down to that last day, final session, and we have seen that here with test matches as well.’’
Indeed, New Zealand polished off Sri Lanka in 2015, and Bangladesh in January, by tearing through their batting lineups on the final day. Five years ago in Wellington, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel fired up on day five, extracted bounce and were stopped only by Kane Williamson’s century which ensured a draw.
The tourists will fancy their chances against a vulnerable New Zealand batting lineup without Ross Taylor, while Trent Boult being barely 50-50 swings it further South Africa’s way.
New Zealand coach Mike Hesson insisted there was no directive to prepare pitches to suit the hosts, although he’d changed his tune from past years when he’d called for green seamers.
‘‘I don’t think ideally we want to play South Africa on a seamer friendly surface. Going into day five [in Dunedin] this test match could have gone one of three ways, which is a sign of a good pitch.’’
Which will be a cracking result for Faith, too. Spare a thought for the man whose good day at the office is essentially determined by Wellington’s fickle weather in a summer that’s never arrived.
‘‘You’re playing a game of cat and mouse with the weather and when you’re having to worry about the rain as much as we are… the stress levels are high,’’ Faith said.
Once unchallenged as New Zealand’s premier spin bowler, Mitchell Santner faces the prospect of missing the final two tests of this cricket series against South Africa.
On what looks certain to be a one-spinner pitch at the Basin Reserve for Thursday’s second test, Jeetan Patel is at microscopic odds to play on his home track after outbowling Santner in Dunedin and receiving a glowing endorsement from his captain Kane Williamson.
Then in Hamilton for the series finale, on what Mike Hesson confirmed will be the slower Waikari clay side of the block, Ish Sodhi will be strongly considered to partner Patel on the same ground he snared 7-107 against Central Districts last week.
Spin looks set to play a huge role in Hamilton, on a pitch South African skipper Faf du Plessis predicted will be a ‘‘dustbowl’’ and will prompt them to summon a second spinner from home. Veteran Imran Tahir or offspinner Dane Piedt appear the leading candidates.
Back to Santner, who hasn’t bowled badly and remains an outstanding white ball bowler, but isn’t offering the punch required by a team’s premier test spinner.
The left-armer has 30 wickets at 39.70 from 14 tests, a tidy if unspectacular record on largely pace-friendly home pitches. Having also played five tests in spinfriendly India and Zimbabwe, Santner’s best innings return is 3-60, in Kolkata last September.
The telling moment in the spin race was mid-afternoon on a Saturday in Dunedin when Patel wheeled down 28 successive overs at South Africa while Santner wasn’t thrown the ball by Williamson till 3.37pm. On a dry, slow pitch offering turn, Patel snared 4-157 off 69 overs for the test while Santner wheeled down just 37 and took 1-69.
Asked who was now the country’s No 1 test spinner, Williamson was caught on the hop. ’’Um… that is a good question,’’ he said.
Matching spinners up to their opponents - such as Patel to South Africa’s five left-handers including his bunny Quinton de Kock - was a key, as was the pitch conditions. Williamson said Patel, Sodhi, Santner and the injured Mark Craig meant they had ‘‘four strong candidates’’ for test cricket.
On Patel, Williamson essentially gave him the nod for Wellington where the 36-year-old offie knows every blade of grass but, remarkably, is yet to play a test there.
‘‘He turns the ball away from the left-hander and the way he drifts the ball makes him threatening to right-hand batsmen as well. And his experience. Jeetan’s played for a number of years on the international scene and a huge amount of domestic experience and I thought he bowled superbly this game.’’
Coach Mike Hesson was a little less forthcoming on the spin race. ‘‘They offer something different and one bats a little bit better than the other. It depends on the balance we want to go in with rather than ranking them one and two.’’
Santner’s batting has been his trump card for selection, and scored a career-best 73 against Bangladesh in Wellington. Originally New Zealand hoped Santner would develop into a No 6 batting allrounder, but on recent form he’s no higher than No 8. A painful four off 48 balls in Dunedin wouldn’t have helped his cause.
Still, the No 8 spot is the problem in this test side, with Patel and Tim Southee both a spot too high there.