Aotearoa's lovely Blackcaps who try so hard on the cricket field are 0-2 in Australia and with the Aussies talking up a series sweep, we are approaching an intriguing gauge game for the Blackcaps. As a fairly good Test team, Aotearoa are niggly in defeat and have earned respect with how they go about their work when quite clearly out of the contest, although none of this legit translates into perhaps, fighting for a draw or two. This third Test will offer plenty of insight into how hearty this Blackcaps unit really is.

Which could feature Will Somerville and his SCG offies. If there is one thing that the wider Blackcaps group has served up consistently, it is selections that appear to be pretty solid on the surface and have multiple funky layers beneath. Somerville is yet another example as the fact that a bloke who has bowled plenty overs at the SCG and in Australia has been promoted.

This reminds me of the Lockie Ferguson situation from earlier in the summer, where the buzz sat around Ferguson and Matt Henry lurked in the shadows of the Blackcaps squad. Once again, this isn't about my personal preference and who I prefer, I'm just applying the same logic based on how I have observed Blackcaps operations in recent times; has Somerville immediately surpassed Todd Astle?

If so, what's the point of selecting Astle?

Astle has sat in the Blackcaps squad and watched much of the Aussie torture take place, patiently doing his job for the team. Astle was picked in that super duper weird squad for two Test series (what a silly idea) and for the one Test across both series that apparently offers the best opportunity to play two spinners, a different bloke is called up into the squad and then he leap-frogs you to play that Test?

Imagine being Astle, doing whatever your national cricket team requires, then hyping up for that two spinner action only for someone else for the double whammy of being called into the squad and then playing ahead of you? Wow.

At this point, I have no care for which spinner/s play as I'll explain below.

The process doesn't really make sense though and as TNC readers will know, Blackcaps stuff tends not to make much sense. However, like with Henry, there does appear to be some hierarchy or appreciation for those who are in the squad doing their job (Tom Blundell harvested his rewards) and opting for Somerville ahead of Astle would be a notable divergence from the good vibes we get from the Blackcaps team. Why else would Somerville be selected though? That in itself could be weird if you call up a player for one Test to be a drinks-runner.

Of course, much of this has come about because of Mitchell Santner's lack of form. Santner has been a festering narrative in covering the Blackcaps over a long period of time and I don't need to regurgitate all of that. During the England series, I split Santner's Test career in half and I'll do that again here, with Santner now playing 22 Tests...

First 11 Tests: 27w @ 37.92avg.

Second 11 Tests: 12w @ 60avg.

We all know Santner has never been a high quality spinner in Test cricket, barely that in domestic cricket. We all know though, that Santner looks like a high quality spinner and I will once again use the word 'seduced' as all of Santner's cricketing activities seduce the viewer into the potential.

My defence of Santner stems from how Santner fits into the Blackcaps and I gotta make it clear that I don't view Santner as the biggest problem. I wrote about the batting after the second Test loss and that's my biggest issue, while I'd also point out that Colin de Grandhomme has 4w @ 41.50avg and Trent Boult managed to roll out 40 overs in the last Test with 1w @ 121avg. Santner is part of a heavily under-performing Blackcaps team.

Santner is not Nathan Lyon.

Santner is not Daniel Vettori ... but in 12 (!!) Tests in Australia, Vettori averaged 40.18.

Santner is not Ravi Ashwin ... but Ashwin averaged 48.07 in Australia.

Harbhajan Singh? He averaged 73.22 in Australia.

Graeme Swann? He averaged 52.59 in Australia.

Muttiah Muralitharan? He averaged 75.41 in Australia.

Get the vibe? Santner is not experiencing anything different to what some of the best spinners ever, have experienced in Australia. Anyone with a noggin' knows that Santner is not as good as those spinners and based off of what the best spinners in the world have done in Australia, expectations of Santner should not have been high.

It's all about fit with Santner and how he fits into the Blackcaps team, making how the team performs low key influential in Santner's role. The Blackcaps were rolled for less than 200 three times in two Tests, only two batsmen are averaging over 20 in this series and the seamers haven't been able to out-play the Aussie batsmen. All of which makes Santner's already niggly task, immensely more tricky.

If you've read this far, here's the crux of the issue...

Who is the best spinner in Aotearoa? I do not think Santner is the best spinner in Aotearoa. I do think Santner is the best overall fit for when the Blackcaps are kinda playing well.

No one knows who the best spinner is. Not me, not the selectors and probably not your mate who rolls a J prior to the start of play.

Santner, Astle, Somerville, Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi have all played a Test in the last two years. That alone is a major problem as no one spinner has been graced with the opportunity to stack up multiple Tests, across multiple series, in different countries and instead, everyone has been rolled in and out. A case can be made for any of these spinners and as someone who writes about domestic cricket, trust me when I say that based strictly on domestic cricket; a case can be made for any of these lads.

Otherwise, let's take Somerville for an example, as Somerville has 14w @ 25.14 in three Tests. Great record, although all of Somerville's three Tests have been in favourable conditions (one in UAE, two in Sri Lanka). Two of Patel's Tests came in Aotearoa (no wickets @ 1.88rpo in NZ) and we have heard all about how spinners don't do anything in Aotearoa. Patel averages a healthy sub-30 in Sri Lanka and UAE, so is Patel better or worse than Somerville, or Santner, or Astle?

The kiwi spinner situation is still all over the place, lacking a defined first option which is a product of a lack of consistency in selection. Now we have another layer where, with an extra spinner already in the squad, a new spinner has been called up for one Test. This gives the Blackcaps three spinners in their current Test squad and depending how you feel, the best spinner may not even be in Australia.

Three spinners in one squad and we have no idea who is the best.

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Peace and love 27.