2021 Aotearoa Blackcaps Spin Landscape
The least fun thing about summertime cricket in Aotearoa may be the lack of spin bowling. Within the Blackcaps top-tier seam crew there is plenty of funk as they are continuously working on their craft, implementing new skills to their individual work and how they combine as a unit. We all know the story by now as kiwi spinners rarely contribute to any great extent in Aotearoa due to conditions favouring seam bowling and/or a lack of desire to genuinely give spinners a crack in these conditions.
Which is why Aotearoa's spin landscape is a weird old place and worth exploring. Everything in the paragraph above revolves around Test cricket and that is in stark contrast to kiwi spinners in T20I where Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner are among Aoteaora's best T20I bowlers ever. The next installment of Blackcaps cricket frames this all rather nicely as the Test squad named to tour England reflects the scattered nature of kiwi spin bowling.
The only spinner used in Test cricket this summer was Santner and he was lucky enough to play one Test - vs Pakistan at Mount Maunganui. Santner bowled 6 overs in the first innings and 19.3 overs in the second innings in Tauranga where the funkiest conditions for spin bowling are served up. Santner took 2w in the second dig, both of which were Pakistan bowlers and further complicating all of this stuff is that Santner had a greater impact in the field; unleashing the Slink run-out and his epic catch to seal the win.
This was Santner's return to Blackcaps Test cricket after falling victim to the tour of Australia. Right now, Santner averages 43.97 in Test cricket and many kiwis have scratched their noggins pondering why Santner was an automatic selection prior to those few weeks in Australia. Santner finishes this summer as the Blackcaps main Test spin bowling option and we are kinda back where we started.
Three games of ODI cricket didn't matter all that much, while T20I cricket dominated the schedule. Todd Astle may feel like a Blackcaps T20I factor as he is frequently named in squads and did enjoy 4w @ 6.50rpo in 2 overs when promoted for his only T20I appearance this summer. Astle has played 4 T20I games since the start of 2016, 3 of which have been in Aotearoa. Blackcaps T20I cricket is all about Santner and Ish Sodhi - the latter had a rather bonkers T20I summer.
Ish Sodhi: 12 games, 38ov, 20w @ 15.45avg/8.13/11.4sr
Mitchell Santner: 8 games, 25.3ov, 8w @ 23.87avg/7.49rpo/19.1sr.
Sodhi is ranked 9th for T20I wickets all time, the only kiwi with more T20I wickets is Tim Southee and he's 2nd. Santner is 19th and while their T20I averages fall short of Daniel Vettori (24th - 19.68avg) they aren't too far behind as Santner is 43rd with 21.45avg and Sodhi is 45th with 21.57avg. This tells us that Santner and Sodhi are right there with Vettori for Aotearoa T20I bowling and genuinely world-class in T20I cricket. Sodhi's summer corrected a trend that was moving in the other direction.
After making his debut in 2014, Sodhi enjoyed three consecutive calendar years averaging below 15 in T20I cricket (2015-17). In each of his first four years, Sodhi's T20I strike-rate was below 20 and that's one of my magical markers. In 2016 and 2017, Sodhi averaged below 15 with strike-rates below 15 and that's a bit crazy.
In 2018 and 2019, Sodhi then averaged 30+ with strike-rates over 20. Not so good. 2020 was slightly better with 26.22avg/21.3sr and some of those late 2020 games form this summer's action where Sodhi averaged 15.45/11.4sr. Isolating Sodhi's 2021 action leaves Sodhi standing on 12.88avg/9.1sr and this amounts to Sodhi's best calendar year so far.
Hold up: Santner and Sodhi played their last T20I games overseas when touring Sri Lanka in September 2019.
Within that nugget is everything that has shaped Blackcaps coverage for the Niche Cache. Since that tour of Sri Lanka in September 2019, Santner has played 18 T20I games and Sodhi's played 22 T20I game. All of which have been in Aotearoa.
Weird and part of this Blackcaps veil that clouds all insights, yet we can still sit comfortable knowing that Santner and Sodhi are the premier T20I Blackcaps bowlers. Based on the Test squad named to tour England, it may feel as clear-cut with Test spinners as Santner is joined by Ajaz Patel and maybe Rachin Ravindra's all-round capabilities.
Ravindra can bowl lovely spin and we're seeing the Blackcaps delight in batsmen who can roll the arm over - Glenn Phillips stand up. I'm zoning in on frontline spinners though and fair play to Ravindra, but he's second-fiddle to Michael Bracewell with Wellington Firebirds as batsmen who bowl spin. Pondering so much about Ravindra the spinner may result in you ignoring Wellington's best spinner, leggy Peter Younghusband.
Regardless, the funk doesn't sit with Ravindra unless viewed this way; Ravindra and Ajaz Patel have been selected for varying degrees of spin bowling and neither was the best spinner for their domestic teams this summer. For Ravindra that is fairly obvious. For Patel, it's a low key domestic cricket tale.
Patel missed a fair amount of cricket this summer and his 2w @ 90.50avg wasn't enough to join the 43 bowlers who took 5+ wickets in the Plunket Shied. Patel did play plenty of Super Smash and his 11 games churned out 7w @ 47.85avg/35.4sr. Patel didn't play enough Ford Trophy to crack the leaderboard; 2w @ 88.50avg.
Considering injuries and anything else we don't know, Patel averaged 40+ with the ball in all three formats. Fresh off such a summer, Patel is named in the Blackcaps Test squad without much thought and this is an early wrinkle of something that could be important to track when games in England start. Patel's named as the second best Test spinner, has operated as the first/second best Test spinner for the past few years and is now coming off a tough summer in Aotearoa
Central Districts Stags enjoyed 9w @ 32.22avg in the Plunket Shield from leggy Brad Schmulian, while youngster Jayden Lennox did the bulk of the Stags white ball spin damage. Lennox took 12w @ 28.66avg in the Ford Trophy to finish as CD's leading wicket-taker and Lennox took 6w @ 13.66avg in the Super Smash playing just four games.
Here are the best spinners from each domestic competition this summer...
Super Smash
Michael Rippon: 10inns, 37ov, 10w @ 26.80avg/7.24rpo/22.2sr
Joe Walker: 8inns, 25ov, 9w @ 18.55avg/6.68rpo/16.6sr
Peter Younghusband: 11inns, 34ov, 9w @ 28.11avg/7.44rpo/22.6sr
Todd Astle: 12inns, 42ov, 9w @ 32.66avg/7rpo/28sr
Ajaz Patel: 11inns, 7w @ 47.85avg/8.10rpo/35.4sr
Ford Trophy
Peter Younghusband: 9inns, 77ov, 15w @ 28avg/5.45rpo/30.8sr
Jayden Lennox: 9inns, 74ov 12w @ 28.66avg/4.64rpo/37sr
Louis Delport: 9inns, 12w @30.25avg/4.22rpo/43sr
Joe Walker: 12inns, 100.1ov, 12w @ 36.50avg/4.37rpo/50sr
Todd Astle: 9inns, 72ov, 11w @ 33.09avg/5.05rpo/39.2sr
Will Somerville: 10inns, 88.3ov, 10w @ 42.40avg/4.79rpo/53.1sr
Plunket Shield
Michael Rippon: 13inns, 201ov, 22w @ 34.86avg/3.81rpo/54.8sr
Ish Sodhi: 11inns, 169.4ov, 17w @ 28.29avg/2.83rpo/59.8sr
Will Somerville: 11inns, 230ov, 16w @ 37.43avg/2.60rpo/86.2sr
Joe Walker: 12inns, 229.4ov, 15w @ 38.20avg/2.49rpo/91.8sr
Louis Delport: 6inns, 104.3ov, 14w @ 23.85avg/3.19rpo/44.7sr
Otago's Michael Rippon is becoming a factor with his lefty-leggies, while Will Somerville is struggling to keep Louis Delport out of the Auckland Aces top spot. Joe Walker does a fine job playing when Ish Sodhi and/or Mitchell Santner are out of the Northern Districts Knights line up. There are interesting spinners breaking through the domestic level, however no spinner has dominated the Plunket Shield like Patel or Sodhi have in the past five years. That in itself makes for an interesting comparison between Patel and Sodhi...
2015/16
Patel: 399ov, 43w @ 33.69avg/3.63rpo/55.6sr - 1st.
Sodhi: 150.3ov, 22w @ 29.22avg/4.27rpo/41sr - 13th.
2016/17
Patel: 441.4ov, 44w @ 30.81avg/3.07rpo/60.2sr - 1st.
Sodhi: 299ov, 40w @ 25.92avg/3.46rpo/44.8sr - 3rd.
2017/18
Patel: 356.2ov, 48w @ 21.52avg/2.89rpo/44.5sr - 1st.
Sodhi: 161ov, 28w @ 13.92avg/2.42avg/34.5sr - 13th.
2018/19
Patel: 206ov, 14w @ 36.64avg/2.49rpo/88.2sr - 20th.
Sodhi: 314.4ov, 36w @ 24.97avg/2.85rpo/52.4sr - 1st.
2019/20
Patel: 129.1ov, 14w @ 26.07avg/2.82rpo/55.3sr.
Sodhi: 54.5ov, 3w @ 80avg/4.37rpo/109.6sr.
2020/21
Patel: 60ov, 2w @ 90.50avg/3.01rpo.
Sodhi: 169.4ov, 17w @ 28.29avg/2.83rpo/59.8sr.
That's six summers and in five of them, Sodhi has been more efficient with a better average and strike-rate. Patel's jacked up more wickets via bowling more overs and being deep in the Aotearoa cricket mangroves, it's easy to read through to see why Patel has played Test cricket more recently; Patel is viewed as a tight lefty, Sodhi is viewed as a volatile leggy.
Being perceived as a volatile leggy, means that folks don't really consider Sodhi as a Test bowling option. At the same time, these folks don't know what is happening in the Plunket Shield and for every time Patel has fired a shot over the course of a Plunket Shield campaign, Sodhi has been right there with Patel. I'm a funky joker, so I like the balance of a leggy to counter Santner's steady work in a Test squad- you may view this differently.
The point here is that beneath the surface, Sodhi has quietly built a compelling case for a tight selection battle with Patel in Test cricket. Take a geeze at the Blackcaps Test squad to tour England though or any recent Blackcaps Test squads and Sodhi isn't even in the frame; Somerville took over alongside Patel, Astle had a moment in Australia and now Ravindra may be a spin option.
In Blackcaps T20I cricket, it's all about Santner and Sodhi. In Test cricket, Santner has wiggled his way back into the top spot and then spin selection depends on vibe. The selectors have their vibe, their own bias as we do. At least five seasons of kiwi cricket suggest that Sodhi should be viewed as favourably as Patel. Moving into the tour of England, it will be Santner and Patel tasked with plugging holes in the Blackcap bowling attack.
Peace and love.