Mitchell Santner bowls in his contact lenses but bats in his glasses. It feels like part of his cricketing personality. A bit of this, a bit of that, all of which adds up to a clear-eyed vision greater than the whole – a series-defining 13 for 157 greater than the whole as it turns out. Rather like New Zealand sport in fact, the small country with the big ambition, and one still rubbing its eyes after an eye-poppingly bonkers week of sporting success.
Firstly, that weekend, kicked off by Team New Zealand’s Taihoro, who regained the America’s Cup off the waters of Barcelona, sending Ben Ainslie back to the drawing board. Then the first Test win in India, guided by Rachin Ravindra; followed by the Silver Ferns snatching netball’s Constellation Cup from Australia’s Diamonds; the Paddle Ferns winning the Women’s Canoe Polo World Cup against Italy; and finally Sophie Devine’s New Zealand defeating South Africa in the T20 World Cup final in Dubai.
That same weekend, Auckland FC, who this season joined Wellington Phoenix in the Australian Premier League, won their first match, beating Brisbane Roar 2-0 in front of a capacity crowd at Mount Smart, while Auckland-born Chris Wood continued to slot in the goals for Nottingham Forest.
Seismic events that tickled the government press release machine into action: “I think Kiwi sports fans can be forgiven if they’re caught yawning at work today,” beamed the sports minister, Chris Bishop, “after so much sporting excitement packed into one weekend!”
But Santner’s left-arm magic would, arguably, top the lot. The following Friday, a man who had never before taken a first-class five-fer had bowled New Zealand to victory in the second Test and with it secured his country’s first ever series win in India – having previously drawn a blank in 12 attempts over 62 years. It was India’s first series defeat at home since losing to Alastair Cook’s men in 2012 (incidentally a tour where England played three first-class warm-up matches). That’s 4,431 days of domination.
Santner probably wasn’t the first name on Rohit Sharma’s “bowlers to fear” list. In fact he might not have made the list at all. He had never taken more than three wickets in a Test innings, never more than six in a match. A white-ball specialist at heart, he has more than 200 one-day international and IT20 games under his belt, and 222 wickets in his pocket, as well as spells at the Hundred, Caribbean Premier League, Indian Premier League and Major League Cricket. Comparatively, his 28-match Test career before Pune had brought the relatively modest tally of 54 wickets.
No wonder those 29 overs on the trot in the second innings were a bit of stretch, No wonder his side was aching. But when it is your moment, you grab it – though obviously in a low-key, defiantly modest, New Zealand way. He varied his pace, attacked the stumps, bowled Virat Kohli with a full toss in the first innings. Got rid of the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second as well as Sharma, Shubman Gill and Kohli for a second time.
“I’ve been in and out [of Test cricket],” he said afterwards. “But to get conditions like this and put in a shift like that was pretty pleasing. I guess to do it against India and beat them at their own game was the most pleasing thing for me.” Then he scratched his head and added: “On a pitch where one will skid and one will spin, it becomes an accuracy thing.”
His captain, Tom Latham, thought it was a bit more than an accuracy thing, what with the history-making and everything. “He’s been around the group for a long time and to finally hit a break and bowl the way he has, not only in the first innings but in the second innings, he bowled fantastically well. The credit has to go to him.”
Just like the White Ferns in the Women’s World Cup, who arrived with a string of defeats under their belt, no one gave New Zealand a prayer in India – they’d just lost 2-0 to Sri Lanka and were without the talismanic Kane Williamson. But New Zealand are used to being underestimated – it’s where they thrive best.
And the cricketing wins can be nothing but helpful for a sport desperate not to go the way of rugby where, in Auckland at least, the clubs are struggling to attract young kids and schools are concentrating on being active rather than teaching ball sports. Santner couldn’t have timed his Test-best any better.
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