Former Australia captain Mark Waugh has criticised New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner for his poor performance in the ongoing Boxing Day Test being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Pacers like Neil Wagner, Colin de Grandhomme and Trent Boult challenged Australia on Day 1, who reached stumps on 257/4, with Steve Smith on 77* and Travis Head on 25*.
But the Black Caps couldn’t do the same on day 2 and allowed the hosts to post 467 in their first innings with Head scoring 114 and Smith 79.
Santner, in particular, conceded 82 runs in his 20 overs and also went wicketless. “He’s a one-day bowler, not a Test match bowler,” Waugh was quoted as saying by Fox Sports. “If you’re an orthodox bowler the one thing you’ve got to have is accuracy, yet he doesn’t have that.”
“He doesn’t spin the ball a lot so you’ve got to have accuracy and he 4doesn’t have that. He bowls short balls, too many easy scoring balls.
“I think it’s a real big issue and the reason why they can’t win this Test,” he added.
Waugh believes that the teams visiting Australia need to have a spinner who can get wickets.
“You’ve got to have a decent spinner in Australia or at least a spinner who can get wickets,” said Waugh
“At the moment he isn’t doing that and he’s not keeping it tight so I don’t know what they’ll do in Sydney, they’ll maybe have to bring in a leg-spinner because I can’t see Santner playing,” he added.
“Mitchell Santner’s spot in the Test side is under serious scrutiny after he was handed the ultimate humiliation by captain Kane Williamson,” New Zealand Herald’s Niall Anderson said. Santner went wicketless also in the first Test where he conceded 146 runs in two innings.
Santner has a better average in T20Is (less than 19) and ODIs (around 36) compared to Tests.
