Image Credit- ICC
You believed Mitchell Santner had the perfect night
out with the girls. He defeated the Netherlands in only his second ODI
five-for, and his spell of 5 for 59 together with his brief appearance at No. 8
(17 balls) awarded him Player of the Match.
Santner admitted, though, that for less money versus
England in Ahmedabad, he had bowled far better. It explained why a
performance’s metrics aren’t always accurate. In Santner’s instance, it wasn’t.
“Yeah, it was obviously nice to get the
rewards,” he said after New Zealand made it two wins in two. “I don’t
think I bowled as well as I did in Ahmedabad. Probably missed a little bit
more, but it was nice to keep trying to be aggressive and get wickets. I guess
that’s the only way we can kind of slow the batters down in the middle of the
ODI innings, by taking wickets.
“And I thought, as a bowling unit, we did that
very well. Guys coming back, still being aggressive, trying to take wickets,
and managed to chip them out along we went. And it was nice to get the win in
the end.”
Santner takes pride in his ability to discern
circumstances and playing surfaces and uses it to his advantage, even if it
comes from observing an opponent bowl. On Monday, Santner saw how the
Netherlands’ spin duo of Aryan Dutt and Roelof van der Merwe performed in the
middle overs.
“Yeah, I think it was, slightly on the slower
side,” he assessed. “I thought they bowled, especially their
spinners, bowled extremely well. Yeah, it looked like we were kind of setting
up a bigger score and they managed to pull it back and get a couple of wickets.
So, I guess when I went in, it was still that kind of ‘take it as deep as we
can’ and then try have a couple of big overs at the end, which luckily enough
we did, to get up to 322.”
Santner also emphasised the bowling modifications he’s
had to make in relation to spinning wickets. Back home, where playing a holding
position on grassy conditions provides little time for bowling, he has changed
to an aggressor aiming for wickets.
“It’s obviously nice to come over here and see
some spinning wickets because they’re few and far between back in New
Zealand,” he said. “I guess the role in New Zealand is slightly
different to here. You want to be a little bit more aggressive. You keep your
slips in for longer. I try to operate with that mid-on up most of the time,
only having three back, trying to make them play big shots.