Former Kiwi cricketer Ian Smith has lashed out at his team for failing to develop spin bowling. His remarks came in the aftermath poor show in the first Test match against India in Kanpur where their troika of tweakers managed to pick up just three wickets in both the innings. Only Ajaz Patel managed to grab those three, while Will Somerville and Rachin Ravindra both remained wicketless.
“Surviving today is temporarily sealing the cracks. We have to get more revolutions on the ball and stop hiding in the grass. It’s so lopsided in their favor it’s not funny. Just as it is for the quicks when we host teams here. Unfortunately, though for us, that is now coming to our detriment in the subcontinent, and we’ll always do so unless we learn to play it better,” Ian Smith said on Mornings with Ian Smith on SENZ.
All three spinners were far from effective in India’s first innings, instead it was their seam department which managed to take all the scalps with Tim Southee finishing with a five-for. Kyle Jamieson also picked up three wickets. Smith didn’t stop short while praising the duo. “It’s a hell of a compliment to Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson that we’re actually still playing this Test match. Our three spinners bowled 102 overs. For India, 10 out of the 11(at the time of writing) scalps they’ve got so far are to spin.”
He reflected on team’s performance in the WTC Final where they beat India. He mentioned an important facet of the side: it was an all-pace line up. “The greatest of the tweakers, Shane Warne, marveled at our success in winning the World Test Championship final but without having [or] using a spinner. He did say it was somewhat disappointing and a poor reflection. He’s a tad bias to spin, we know that, but we need to shift ours a little bit more in that direction,” Ian Smith said.
