The return of Super Smash cricket brought with it the return of Mitchell Santner, perhaps the weirdest kiwi cricketer in existence right now. Santner currently sits on the cusp of well, no one really knows what awaits Santner this summer as we look forward to the World Cup and with an abundance of spinners as we have recently seen, Santner doesn't feel like the best tweaker across any format in Aotearoa.

This isn't about Santner the spinner though. You'd know yourself, that whether it's your own insight, your mates talkin' their shit or the various media folk discussing cricketing matters, the easy path to take is exploring Santner in relation to the spinning competition now evident in the various Blackcaps teams.

As I wrote prior to the cricketing summer, Santner's not quite good enough at bowling or batting to be selected as a specialist. While, he kinda is because that's what has gone down since Santner made his Blackcaps debut and was rather swiftly, instilled as a mandatory selection as the Blackcaps main spinner. Even then though, Santner's batting played a role in his mandatory selection.

The case for Santner to be selected as the main spinner has always been fairly weak; the only formats Santner averages below 30 (international and domestic) in are both T20 formats. Last night in Northern Districts Knights' Super Smash win over Wellington Firebirds, Santner bowled 3ov @ 9.33rpo without a wicket, while the other spinners who bowled 3+ overs (Jeetan Patel, Anton Devcich and Ish Sodhi) all took 2+ wickets.

Obviously that's one game and no one's jumping to conclusions, yet this sets the scene for what I'm most interested in while Santner's playing Super Smash and that's his batting. Like his bowling, Santner's batting is aesthetically pleasing and whether it's left-arm flight, fabulous fielding or Brian Lara-ish strokes, Santner's cricketing exploits simply look good.

Like Santner's bowling though, his batting isn't hugely effective; he averages below 30 in every format (international and domestic). The curveball is that Santner's last Blackcaps outing in the ODI series vs England earlier this year was a raging success for Santner the batsman as he score 216 runs @ 108avg (via 2 not outs) with a strike-rate of 105.88 and his only two 50+ ODI scores came in this series. All up, Santner's series vs England; 45*, 63*, 41, 67.

Santner was the Blackcaps leading run-scorer in that series and this coincided with Santner taking 3w in 39.5ov @ 69avg/5.19rpo with the ball, while Sodhi, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashi were all in the top-five wicket-takers of the series. That feels like Santner started to figure out the batting thing and as his highest ODI score prior to that series was a 48 back in early 2016, we can never under-estimate the value of confidence; once you perform, you feel at home at that level.

Batting #6, Santner hit 22* @ 169.23sr last night to finish off the Knights innings. Oddly enough, Santner resembles more of a solid batsman rather than a lower order slugger and this always has me pondering him moving up the order more consistently - as he has done in all formats for the Knights. His immediate future though, resides in batting spots #6-8 and the stage is now set to observe Santner's batting more closely throughout the Super Smash.

The context for this is the World Cup and Santner's ability to hit boundaries for the Knights in the Super Smash after a strong start from the top-order, or salvage an innings, are relatable to the job he could do at the World Cup. In the Blackcaps ODI team, Santner would be playing a role where he needs to finish and also needs to craft an innings, skillsets that we'll get a glimpse at during the Super Smash.

I'm open minded with Santner and whatever the future holds. There is no cricketer like Santner in Aotearoa, not in the sense of him being a unique talent but in terms of a guy who no one really knows what his ceiling is - how good he can be. Alternatively, Santner may have hit the wall enjoying a comfy ride into the Blackcaps? That's the point as right now, no one knows and while we won't get the answers in the Super Smash, we're on our way to sussing him out.

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Peace and love 27.