Mitchell Santner “didn’t know what to do” after he struck the winning blow in the first one-day international against England to take New Zealand to a victory that appeared to have slipped away.
There was an element of modesty of assessing his performance in the remark, but in a sense it also reflected the role Santner plays in New Zealand’s one-day side where his batting has taken a definite back seat to his left-arm spin, in which role he is now their No. 1.
Having briefly batted at No. 6 early his career he now resides at No. 8 – a spot higher on occasions – and is rarely talked about for his hitting. This was his fourth 40+ score in 39 ODI innings and three of those came in his first 11 knocks.
One of those was against England at Trent Bridge in 2015, during his fourth ODI, when he plundered 44 off 19 balls which included taking 28 off an over Adil Rashid – the 48th over to be precise, the same one that swung the game back New Zealand’s way in Hamilton. Six of Santner’s 19 ODI sixes have now come off Rashid.
When Santner began his innings he had Ross Taylor for company and the pair talked about getting the chase down to 10 an over off the last five. He was 14 off 17 balls at the beginning of the 48th over – which included an earlier pulled six off Tom Curran – with New Zealand needing 34 off 18 in a game where few batsmen had found timing easy, but immediately latched on to two drag downs from Rashid. A smite over square leg in the penultimate over eased the pressure, before a flick to fine leg and the final blow over midwicket off Chris Woakes.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said of the winning moment. “I don’t usually celebrate.
“It was hard to start, the new batsman coming in having to hit straight away was always going to be difficult. It took a few dots to get in but you could catch up later on at the end.”
He heeded the advice of his senior partner. “Good that he listened,” Taylor joked.
England captain Eoin Morgan acknowledged the final shift in a topsy-turvy match. “He took advantage of two loose balls and he struck them well,” he said. “It was a big moment, to take them needing 12 an over to eight. That’s a big moment.”
Taylor, who made a superb 113 off 116 balls to take the Man of the Match award, adding 178 for the fourth wicket with Tom Latham, said the short boundaries always kept New Zealand hopeful once they had overcome the poor start which left them 27 for 3.
“You always knew in Hamilton that you were only a couple of big hits away from keeping up with the run rate,” Taylor said. “They made a few plays – bringing Rashid on to get me out, that was a bold move, then to continue him, also
“Credit to this guy [Santner]. Tommy [Latham] and I did well but the way he was able to get us across the line was very important.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo