AUS vs NZ | MCG Day 2 Talking Points - Understated genius of Travis Head and the Santner question

12/27/2019

Travis Head and Tim Paine forged a solid partnership to crush New Zealand hope of dominating the Boxing Day Test after Neil Wagner dismissed Steve Smith cheaply today. In the course of the innings though, a lot of Kiwi problems came to the fore that need some articulated treatment.

The understated genius of Travis Head

Travis Head is like a boy next door, no one really gives a damn, people don’t care to give a personal invitation to the party but somehow he ends up doing the bulk of the backdoor work in that Christmas Party. Head might not be head and shoulders above his more illustrious Aussie teammates, but his contribution to this Australian team is as vital as a Mitchell Starc or a David Warner. That might sound blasphemous but then again, he is Australia's second-highest run-scorer since his Test debut in 2018.

But he was still dropped for the final Ashes Test, in the pretext of balance, as he returned for Pakistan series where he didn’t have to do a lot. But his worth made a re-appearance in this series where he has already played two crucial innings against New Zealand to pull Australia out of the woods. In Perth, late on the opening day, Australia really needed him to stick around in front of Tim Southee’s venoms and he did really deliver. After a couple of strong cover drives late in the day, he consolidated Australia’s position and helped Australia beyond the 300-mark as the temperature nudged 40C.

As he scored another fine 114 today at MCG, it puts things into perspective. Only thrice in his career, which is 25-innings-old now, has Head failed to reach double figures. While everyone else surrendered, Head fought valiantly against India last year, rounded off the 2018 summer with a stunning 161 in Canberra, his 86 runs in two innings in Edgbaston laid the foundation of Australia retaining the urn, and now this. For Australia, it has been a choice between Matthew Wade and Travis Head but they should know now, who to trust in Bangladesh.

New Zealand will suffer many of this in future

One of the understated facts of New Zealand which helps them get away in Test cricket is their brilliant pace battery. The likes of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner make for a stunning arsenal and add to that Lockie Ferguson, it is an attack to envy about. But what transpired in Melbourne today was borderline criminal and unfair to their pacers but boy, is there a way out? Doesn’t seem like.

Try convincing yourself as much as you want but Mitchell Santner doesn’t cut out for Test cricket. He might be an excellent limited-overs performer but Test cricket demands a different level of skill set and as Santner is clearly not cut from the same cloth. After 22 Test matches, the Northern District spinner has a total of 35 wickets at an average of 45.31 and an S/R of 97.3. Considering the impact their pace bowlers have over the years, he could have played the role of what Keshav Maharaj has done for South Africa so effectively over the last few years.

Shane Warne turns the ball by a mile, but Nathan Lyon doesn’t. Both are successful in Australia because they know what is their strong points, and moreover, their weaknesses. Santner neither turns the ball nor does he have the accuracy to have an impact in red-ball cricket. Today's spell could act as a perfect indicator as the spinner mixed up all his variations as if he was bowling in a T20 match. The lack of understanding of the match situation - which is a must for a spinner in flat batting conditions - was the biggest differentiator as New Zealand are in for a hard time in Test cricket on the road.

The bigger problems of Tom Blundell failure

As Ian Smith said in an interview to ESPN Cricinfo, New Zealand - a small country - can’t produce cricketer like an India or even an Australia and they have to make do with the limited resources available at their disposal. Smith couldn’t have been more right, with the team often depending on overseas players from India and South Africa to form the core of the team. When Jeet Raval was replaced by Tom Blundell for the second Test at the MCG, it was welcomed, but very few would have thought of the bigger picture that is set to plague New Zealand cricket now.

After the failed experimentation with Colin Munro and Martin Guptill, New Zealand turned to Raval but the latter failed to reach double figures in seven of his last nine Test innings which forced New Zealand to handover the opening responsibility to wicketkeeper Tom Blundell who has never batted as an opener or a No.3 in his first-class career. If Blundell’s century against West Indies in his debut series two years ago was a role to play, it shouldn’t be easy to forget Raval’s seven fifties and a couple of centuries too.

In no way, I am backing Raval for a long run and trying to write off Blundell. But the fact that New Zealand resorted to the panic button when things could have been seen through a different glass makes things a complicated one for the future. One hopes Blundell becomes successful and this innings was just a blip in his career, but New Zealand, more than anyone else, can’t afford to do this ever again, as the country doesn’t have the resources to pull that off.