New Zealand’s in-form all-rounder Mitchell Santner said Monday the Black Caps are ready for “spinny” wickets in the World Cup.
The 31-year-old took 5-59 as New Zealand thumped the Netherlands by a convincing 99-run margin in Hyderabad on Monday for their second win in two games.
Runners-up in the last two World Cups, New Zealand upstaged title-holders England in their first match by nine wickets in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Up against Bangladesh on Friday followed by Afghanistan five days later at spin-friendly Chennai, Santner backed his team’s ability against the slower ball.
“We knew that going into the tournament that Chennai has that nature of being a bit spinny and it did, especially in the first innings the other night,” said Santer of the Chepauk stadium.
On Sunday, India defeated Australia in a match where home spinners grabbed six wickets for 104 runs, dismissing their opponents for a paltry 199.
Santner said both Bangladesh and Afghanistan have good players of spin.
“Obviously first is Bangladesh and if it is something similar to the other night, it could be spinning a little bit in the daytime and then start to skid later, so we’ve got to be prepared for both.”
Santner will be familiar with the Chennai stadium as it’s where he plays in the Indian Premier League with Chennai Super Kings.
Santner, who also scored a quickfire 36 not out in New Zealand’s 322-7 on Monday, was delighted for the team to have two wins out of two.
“Obviously a nice start, we knew that turning up today after the highs of beating England, we couldn’t get too complacent and we knew the Netherlands are a good team,” said Santner.
“It’s another two points, but you have to move on pretty quickly in this.”
Santner, who took 2-37 against England, currently tops the bowling chart with seven wickets from two games.
Meanwhile, Dutch all-rounder Colin Ackermann reckoned a lack of partnerships was the reason his team tumbled to a second loss of the tournament.
The 32-year-old top-scored with 69 in his team’s 223 all out in 46.3 overs in reply to New Zealand’s imposing 322-7.
The Netherlands lost to Pakistan by 81 runs on Friday, also in Hyderabad.
Ackermann added 50 for the fourth wicket with Teja Nidamanuru (21) but that wasn’t enough in the pursuit of their target.
“I think we were 150 for 4 after 30 overs,” said Ackermann.
“So, we were kind of on track, but then we lost a couple of quick wickets after the 30th over and couldn’t extend the partnerships.”
Ackermann praised New Zealand all-rounder Santner for his man of the match performance.
“Santner mixes his pace pretty well; he was a massive threat. I think we played him pretty well up to a point and then we gave him a couple of soft wickets towards the back end,” said Ackermann.
He added: “We shouldn’t have chased 320 you know, maybe 280-290 would have been a decent chase today,” said Ackermann.
“It’s very disappointing. Probably felt that New Zealand got 30-40 too many runs.
The Netherlands now have a long rest before facing South Africa in the Himalayan venue of Dharamsala on 17 October.
“I suppose we’ll have a couple of days to reflect and see what we’ve done well, what we haven’t done so well, and then look at the next game against South Africa.
“Obviously, the conditions will change in Dharamsala. So, we’ll sit down as a group and assess. It’s only two games in so we will try our best in the remaining games.”
