Santner is 13 under par after six rounds…
...and if that doesn’t make you sick then you’re a better person than me
Since debuting for his country six years ago, Mitchell Santner has established himself as one of the finest white-ball bowlers in the sport, capable of tying down the best batter’s in the game while picking up wickets at a rate of more than one per T20I.
The 29 year old will play a key role for Kane Williamson’s Black Caps in their T20 World Cup campaign that starts at 3am tomorrow with a heavyweight clash against Pakistan, who thrashed India by 10 wickets in their opening match.
Santner is a fascinating and in many ways counterintuitive cricketer. He looks so fluid at the crease with the bat and in the field, yet it is his more mechanical bowling that is his strongest suit.
It just so happens Santner is a natural-born sporting freak, capable of shooting under par on tough golf courses and hitting holes in one into beer cups at home.
According to teammates, you don’t want to be playing him at any racquet sport either, or darts, or pool, or anything that requires a degree of hand eye co-ordination.
Yes, he’s that guy, (as opposed to That Guy) annoyingly good at everything while never looking like he’s trying. If there was any fairness in the world, Santner would have no friends but it just so happens he’s a laidback, likeable bloke too.
The left-arm orthodox bowler Zoomed in with The Bounce to talk spin bowling, golf and engineering ahead of the Black Caps opening match.
You’ve just spent several weeks in the UAE with the IPL champion Chennai Super Kings and although you didn’t play, I suspect you picked up some valuable insights?
It’s always good to see the world’s best on show. I’ve been part of CSK for a few years now. I didn’t get any game time this tournament but sitting around watching the cricket in conditions that are going to be really similar was a good start.
The facilities are good, you have a lot of time to train and to be able to see what does and doesn’t work on these kinds of surfaces puts me in a good spot.
Are you used to playing in front of fairly sterile atmospheres now, and does it affect you as a player?
It’s extremely different. My first year, 2019, playing in Chennai in front of a full crowd all wearing yellow, it’s something very special. They [the IPL] did a great job taking it to [the UAE], making sure everybody was safe and getting it completed but yes, we’ve played a few games without crowds, way back to the first one at the SCG against Australia. We were lucky last season in New Zealand to have the crowds. It was awesome, that’s what the players want.
You get the odd player who rides the wave of the crowd. With momentum shifts, if the crowd is behind you you can definitely feel it, but going into a World Cup you shouldn’t need to be getting riled up by the crowd, it’s an important enough occasion. For me, every time I play for my country it’s a massive deal, so everyone should be fired up and ready to go.
The common consensus is that you and legspinner Ish Sodhi will have big roles to play if New Zealand are to be successful. Does that bring extra pressure?
Me, Ish and Toddy [Astle] have played a lot in New Zealand conditions where the ball doesn’t do much. Our role might change slightly here. We might become more of an attacking option if the ball is spinning.
The teams able to adapt to conditions the fastest will do well. All three grounds will play slightly differently. We saw a couple of the qualifiers at Sharjah [the venue for the match against Pakistan] have low scores on what looks a very low and slow wicket. We saw that through the IPL. That Abu Dhabi wicket looks a bit two paced and was tough when you dug it in, and the [England and West Indies] spinners did a great job at Dubai. It will be different at night than during the day, so I think depending on where and when you’re playing, your role will change throughout the tournament.
What we have seen is that if you get early poles [wickets] during the powerplay, it is tough to score.
Do you enjoy bowling in the powerplay [first six overs]?
Yes, it’s obviously a challenge. If I’m going to bowl one of the first two overs, it brings up an arm ball or a swinging delivery as an option. You need a couple of options in the powerplay.
I did it in Sri Lanka where it was spinning and that gives you a different look because you can be a bit more aggressive. When it’s not spinning it’s more of a defensive role. But we’ll see what happens through the tournament. Moeen Ali bowled three in a row [during the powerplay against the West Indies] which was cool to see. You don’t often see that and he did a great job.
If you look at the surfaces. They haven’t been run-fests, so the powerplay is massive. You’ve seen those games at Sharjah where you have to do your scoring in the powerplay because it’s very challenging through the middle. As a bowling unit you have to be able to adapt. You might bowl three in a row one day, spells of one over on another depending on the surface.
We’ve seen teams chasing 120-130 in Sharjah and yet if you didn’t get 40 off the powerplay it still looked like a tough chase.
It’s set up as a brutal tournament with New Zealand playing Pakistan and India straight off the bat, almost certainly needing to win one of those games to progress to the semifinals?
It’s hard not to look at that. We’ve got two very big games at the start, with gaps between those and then we go three on the bounce in five days.
We’ll put all our focus into [tonight’s] game, do our scouting, look at the wicket, look at Pakistan, if we win we change our focus to Dubai with a different surface and a different team.
It’s easy to say but we really have to take it one game at a time. Our pool is really challenging. A team like Afghanistan, in these conditions, is going to be really tough. All 12 teams are capable of an upset. T20 cricket can be pretty fickle at times and if you can get on a roll you can carry that momentum right through like the West Indies did in 2016.
Run rate could be a massive factor in this tournament. If you take a big loss early it can be challenging.
You and Ish had good tournaments at the last World T20 in 2016, taking 10 wickets each and bowling economically. Can you take much from those memories?
You always draw back on times when you’ve done well if you’re struggling for confidence. That was the first time Ish and I were bowling in conditions where it spun. It was enjoyable watching guys not just running down the wicket and banging it back over your head, but actually running past a couple.
It won’t turn as much here but it can still be challenging if you bowl a hard back of a length. In NZ if you bowl a couple into the wicket you start to think, ‘[the batter is] coming down, I might have to bowl a yorker here or throw it wide and get cut for one.’ When the ball is doing more, you have to do less. What’s the ball that’s going to be hardest to hit? Figure that out and just repeat that.
If there’s one quality you seem to possess it’s that you never look stressed or even if you’re sweating - surely there must be some nerves in there somewhere?
I’m good at hiding it. If you’re not getting nervous there’s something wrong with you. A big event like this, you’re going to be nervous. You look back at the work you’ve done, the process and take comfort in that. T20 can be so challenging. You can bowl well and get hit and on the flip side you can bowl poorly and get wickets so you [can’t get too emotional about it].
You’ve got a spin bowling coach with you there who’s taken a few wickets, but not many with spin - what’s it like working with Shane Bond?
Ha, yeah, he hasn’t been talking to me about release or stuff like that, but his experience at the IPL, he’s seen a lot of cricket now. He knows what works, what doesn’t work and can offer help to the seamers as well. We had Flem [Stephen Fleming] for a few days as well which was nice, although I'd obviously seen enough of him at the IPL. If you’re not taking advantage and talking to these guys, you’re being a bit silly really.
The important stuff now. You’re a big fan of golf and the rumour is you’ve been shooting fairly low over there?
We were lucky enough to get six or so rounds in during the IPL on some nice courses and I think I was collectively 13 under par.
You must have won a lot of money?
(Laughs) It was all handicapped and there were a few handicap sharks there so I didn’t actually win by that many.
So are you ever going to use that engineering degree?
I haven’t actually qualified yet. Before you qualify or do your degree you have to do 800 work hours, but you’re expected to do that over the summer months and that is a bit challenging when you’re playing cricket. My brother [Elliot] has just finished his. I have to do that at some stage and unfortunately sitting down talking about spin bowling doesn’t count.
It’s always good to have something as a backup because you don’t know how long you’re going to be in a sport for and it can come to an end quite fast. The Players’ Association does a good job of helping you find something outside of sport to do.
It’s hard to think about it now because my whole life is cricket but once it finishes you’re sitting there thinking, ‘What do I do now?’ If you’re having to rely on staying in the game it can be quite challenging. Having an option, something else, in the back of your mind, it makes that transition out of cricket a little easier.
The Black Caps game against Pakistan is live on Sky Sport 3 from 2.45am tomorrow. The Bounce will and The BYC, will be posting and podcasting regularly throughout the tournament.