The big news in the New Zealand Test squad, apart from the post-injury comeback for Trent Boult, was the return to the arena for 31-year-old left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel in place of Mitchell Santner. It's a good change, as far as former batting coach Craig McMillan is concerned, because Patel "can pick up four or five wickets in a Test match". As for Patel, he is just excited at the prospect of facing off against "some of the best in the world".
"Mitchell Santner, over a period of time, has done a holding role for New Zealand. And that's down quite often to the conditions in New Zealand that aren't really conducive to have the ball turning much. It's the seamers who do all the damage and take most of the wickets," McMillan, who finished up with the team after the 2019 50-over World Cup, told Radio Sport.
Gary Stead, the New Zealand head coach, had welcomed Patel's inclusion when the squad was announced, saying, "It's a slight change in role we're looking in terms of that position being one where we can take wickets and focus hard on that."
McMillan liked what he heard from Stead: "It's good to hear, because Ajaz Patel is better than being just a holding spinner. He's got over 230 first-class wickets [235 in 62 matches], so he knows how to bowl in New Zealand. So I hope they use him in an attacking role. They need to have a spinner who can pick up four or five wickets in a Test match. And Ajaz Patel is certainly a guy who could do that. So I thought it was encouraging to hear, and it will be interesting to see how they use him, because that's one of the keys, when you have spinners in your side, it's the time to use them and how to use them.
"I feel my game's pretty adaptable. So I'm going to just see what the conditions are and what the scenario and situation is and try to play to that" Ajaz Patel
"I hope they give him the opportunity to continue bowling how he does at the domestic level at the international level, because I think he can do a really good job, pick up wickets and be really useful in that New Zealand Test side."
Patel has played only seven Test matches since his debut in 2018, five of them in Asian conditions and only two in New Zealand, where the stress has been on pace with Santner trying to keep things tight without really being much of an attacking option. In the last 12 months, Santner has played one Test in Sri Lanka, two at home against England, and two in Australia, and picked up only five wickets in those games at an average of 96.80. The other spinners in the mix have been Todd Astle, who has since retired from red-ball cricket, and Will Somerville, who both played the New Year's Test in Sydney on the back of an illness crisis in the squad.
Back in the scheme of things now, Patel is looking forward to going up against Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and the rest of the mighty India batting line-up.
"It's a fantastic challenge. I suppose as a spinner, testing yourself against some of the best players in the world, it's a great challenge and it's something that you should, really, enjoy and cherish," he said. "At the end of the day, I suppose, at some point in my career, I want to be known as the best in the world. So to be able to challenge some of the best in the world, it's a great opportunity and a challenge, something that I look forward to."
Whether he gets that chance or not depends on the Basin Reserve pitch. If it's green, as McMillan pointed out, "perhaps playing a fourth seamer, which means Kyle Jamieson might get a run".
Patel understands that. "I suppose it depends on the surface and the scenarios of the game," he said of the role he expects to play. "Either way, I am going to try and contribute in any way that I can, whether it be with the ball, with the bat, in the field. If it requires me to try and take wickets, then I'm going to try to do that, if it requires me to try and restrict runs, then I'll try and do that. I feel my game's pretty adaptable. So I'm going to just see what the conditions are and what the scenario and situation is and try to play to that.
"The Basin could be quite interesting, I suppose. It depends on what kind of day it is and what kind of week you get. If you get a nice, sunny week, the wicket dries up pretty quickly. Although if there's a bit of overcast conditions, that can be a bit different as well. And obviously you have the wind factor. There's a lot of things you've got to think about at the Basin, but once again, it's kind of adapting your game to whatever presents itself, and that's probably one of the great things about Test cricket. You get different challenges thrown at you and you have to learn to adapt."
What could have gone against Santner, apart from just his own moderate returns, was the fact that even as he picked up just one wicket in two Tests on the December 2019 tour of Australia, Nathan Lyon topped the wicket-takers' chart with 20 wickets in three Tests, all of which Australia won.
Did that show up Santner, as well as New Zealand's use with their frontline spinner? "I think it did in many ways," McMillan agreed. "[Santner's numbers] sort of stands out in itself, because his core role in the side is to pick up wickets as a spinner, not as a batsman. And he was getting picked in the side to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. And New Zealand, with the bowling line-up they've got, need a spinner who can contribute four or five wickets a Test match, which just takes some pressure off the likes of [Tim] Southee, [Neil] Wagner and Boult."