Hamish Bennett played 31 internationals for the Black Caps and is a cricket columnist for Stuff
OPINION: Hindsight is a wonderful thing and makes it even clearer that Ajaz Patel should have played with Trent Bridge and Headingley. So how did it get to this point, where the best spin bowler in the country was left out, while the Black Caps lost the series 3-0 to England?
For the first test I wrote, Patel would have to miss Lord’s, usually a spinner’s graveyard, and play the last two, expecting England to prepare dry surfaces to nullify the Black Caps’ tempo attack. This isn’t an “I told you so,” but more of a broader take on why Michael Bracewell was preferred.
What hurt the Black Caps are the surfaces they play on in New Zealand. The test fields are green and made for the hosts to win test matches, which is fair enough because of the points the Black Caps can accumulate in the World Test Championship. The problem is the surfaces in Plunket Shield cricket.
Gareth Copley/Getty Images
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Ajaz Patel during a netting session at Headingley.
What coach Gary Stead and fellow selector Gavin Larsen are looking for is a spinning all-rounder (formerly Mitchell Santner, and now Bracewell) who can play in every away test and the odd test at home. The spin bowler through and through is becoming obsolete all over the subcontinent.
READ MORE:
* Mark Reden: Yes, England was exciting but the Black Caps stepped on their own stumps
*Black Caps selection process no problem for NZ Cricket boss after England whitewash
* Black Caps missed a trick by not selecting Ajaz Patel for the third test
* The 10 key moments that took the Black Caps to England in their whitewash series
At first class level we have to make flat wickets from day one, hit the first wickets so that each team has to pick a spinner and use them as wicket takers instead of making up for the overrate or bowling a pair for the second new one ball.
It will also create pace bowlers who have to run hard and fast and hit the wicket, rather than the Seamers having medium pace success. Anything below 135 km/h should feel like a crash.
Games should also last four days and let’s change the bonus point structure. A point for every three wickets a team takes and a point for passing 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 before 105 overs would encourage teams to hit more aggressively.
Stu Forster/Getty Images
England batsman Joe Root plays a ramp shot from Tim Southee’s bowling alley in Nottingham.
Cricket follows this path and we must embrace it before the ship leaves port. It will challenge our six great national teams to make our domestic players better on flatter wickets; for bowlers to use different tactics and for our batters to expand their games. For example, if a bowler is bowling wide from a stump, teach our players to turn the round like Joe Root against Neil Wagner.
Back to Patel. I can see the thinking behind Stead and Captain Kane Williamson choosing Bracewell as the bowling unit has earned and deserves all the trust. With Leeds history they would have thought “we need the runs on the board” and deeper at bats, with the top order missing this series.
It also showed how much they missed Colin de Grandhomme for team balance. England would never let Bracewell settle down and they turned to Twenty20 mode when he went bowling. His lack of bowling experience was exposed, under the most pressure he has had with the ball in his career. He will learn and grow from this.
Stu Forster/Getty Images
Michael Bracewell netted Ben Stokes as his first test wicket but things went downhill in Leeds.
Test cricket is about taking 20 wickets and I believe Patel was one of the top four bowlers in that Black Caps side. This is someone who took a ten for in an innings against India seven months ago. With his left arm twist turning the ball away from the right-hander and his past control and experience to fall back on in pressure situations, he would have been a great selection.
If they’re looking for a spinning all-rounder to hit seven or eight, Santner remains a viable option, especially with his career runs per left of 2.78. If the English had attacked him, he could fall back on his white ball skills. But that ship seems to have sailed.
Rachin Ravindra is in the wings as the next option, but he needs time and knows what his role is: to score runs and bowl to keep the run rate in check and pick up a few wicket or two innings.
We have to be patient and whoever chooses Stead as a spin bowling option, let’s give them some time instead of hanging them out to dry after a few matches. New Zealand has only had two spin bowlers taking more than 100 test wickets (Dan Vettori and John Bracewell), so it’s not their forte. I would like to see Patel get a good run and be an option for the home summer when England and Sri Lanka visit each other.
Stead and Larsen have some tough decisions about the side composition. I would open with Devon Conway, push Henry Nicholls to four, Daryl Mitchell five and Tom Blundell six. Then New Zealand has the option to play Patel or an extra batter at seven, which would be Will Young if they want to play four Seamers at home. For that time it is a tough tour through Pakistan where you would expect Patel to take center stage.