There is hope for all you cricketing plebs, after ol' mate offie Will Somerville got called up to the Blackcaps Test squad to face Pakistan in United Arab Emirates. That's ol' mate accountant Will Somerville to you and instead of battling away in an office, Somerville earns a living tweaking his fingers and enjoying a spot of whack whack.

I don't say that there is hope for plebs around Aotearoa because of this narrative that Somerville has bolted out of the blue to move from being an accountant to being a pro cricketer. This accountant yarn that's being pushed by the mainstream media ignores the fact that way back in 2005, Somerville made his Plunket Shield debut for Otago and that all the way back in 2012, Somverille made his Big Bash League debuted for Sydney Sixers.

On the back of his maiden five-wicket hall, meet NSW off-spinner, Will Somerville.

So, while you may gain hope that around working your 9-5 you could crack some level of cricket professionalism, you probably didn't play First Class debut before moving into 9-5 life. Throughout his career, Somverville has a record of cracking the domestic circuit in Aotearoa or Australia, even going nek level to play BBL and this clearly points to Somerville being good enough to do so; at various points he just wanted to explore that 9-5 life.

The hope for you plebs comes in the perseverance of Somerville and Somverville said that his dad always said something along the lines of 'your career is a lesson of perseverance'. I take inspiration from such perseverance, that if we persevere with the Niche Cache we can do this full-time without trippin' about where the next dollar is coming from. Take a moment to appreciate that where ever you are at right now, a little perseverance might change your circumstances.

There is on other splash of nuance that feels rather important in the selection of Somerville and it winds back to something Somverville said about spinners getting better with age. We only need to look at Ajaz Patel, who is also over 30-years-old and like Somerville, has spent many years perfecting his craft to the point where they are only getting their opportunity now, having invested so much into their craft.

That folks, should influence how we view Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi, who are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Santner and Sodhi both came into domestic cricket, then Blackcaps cricket at a young age and based on the examples set by Somerville and Patel, there should be a lot of empathy shown towards Santner and Sodhi as they try to figure out this job as an international spinner.

No one should be judging Santner or Sodhi too hard now, they must still perform at an adequate level and especially with a bit of pressure on them, however kiwi cricket fans need to understand that stacking up overs at this level, over a long period of time is what Santner and Sodhi need. Not ... and again, NOT being put through the Lesson selection yo-yo.

Unfortunately, Santner's not in the Blackcaps squads over in UAE. Santner is there though, cleaning up after those sloppy buggers:

With Somverville's selection, it's important to remember how the stars have aligned and while I'm open to any of this spinning group demanding the top spot, the lay of the spinning land in Aotearoa is pretty clear. Santner and Todd Aslte are unavailable, Santner's injury opened the door for Patel and Astle's injury opened the door for Somerville, as well as Mark Craig appearing to be injured as he played one of two Plunket Shield games and three of five Ford Trophy games.

Somerville also picked his time to come back to Aotearoa perfectly, right after Jeetan Patel's Blackcaps swansong finished. The beauty here is that we now have five-six spinners who are either established international spinners (Santner/Sodhi), or have sussed out their craft and thus the jump to international cricket isn't as harsh. There is also plenty of young spinners around Aotearoa at the moment; Felix Murray (CD), Malcolm Nofal (Welly), Theo van Woerkom, Blake Coburn, Cole McConchie (Canterbury). Chuck in Dutch international Michael Rippon, who takes the #1 spinner spot for Otago with Craig out and there is absolutely no shortage of spinning depth in Aotearoa.

The hot take that you are reading this for is whether I view Somerville as being worthy of his Blackcaps promotion. As I have Somerville ranked 5th in available spinners (Santner, Sodhi, Astle, Patel, Somerville) based largely on Blackcaps selection, there isn't a whole lot of funk I can offer here. Two spinners are out injured, so they selected the next in line and that's cool.

What I do find kinda weird, is that the Aotearoa 'A' team is still in UAE and there is no specialist spinner in their four-day team. In the UAE, Aotearoa A is playing with a bowling attack featuring Neil Wagner, Blair Tickner, Scott Kuggeleijn and Logan van Beek ... guess who is 12th man? Seamer Kyle Jamieson.

In spinning conditions, Aotearoa A are getting their spin overs from Glenn Phillips, Tom Bruce and Jeet Raval, none of whom are likely to bowl an over of spin in Test cricket outside of getting an over to serve pies and get a wicket. However, Aotearoa A do have Rachin Ravindra, who appears to be operating as the #1 spinner (bowled the most overs) and is doing a nice job. Ravindra though, is yet to play any domestic cricket and is a better version of those other batting-spinners, not because Ravindra's a better batsman than Phillips, Bruce or Raval but because he's a capable batsman and a better spinner.

This is just a weird situation. Ever since Ravindra was named in the A squad, it was blatantly clear that he's been identified as a youngster who will be nourished and that's a fabulous thing, now here he is as the A's top spinner. Plus, one would assume that if Astle wasn't injured, he would have been in the A team for these First Class games and so the A's had to work with what they got.

As for Somverille, I doubt he'll actually play a Test vs Pakistan unless Patel or Sodhi are unable to play. The thing is, that for Patel and Somerville, they are super well equipped to jump straight into Test cricket via their experience and nous of spin bowling. Hence, I won't be surprised to see Somerville or Patel do their job and apply a smidge more pressure to Sodhi and Santner.

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Peace and love 27.