NZTailender
I can't believe I ate the whole thing
I sometimes wonder how much is down to the particular bowling or batting coach at the time. You think skills are learned and permanent and sports people will keep adding to their armoury but Santner looks a different bowler under Herath just like Boult and Southee did under Donald. So I wonder if Santner will return to the mean once Herath is out of the picture. He also has been on a diet of test cricket only in recent months, so wonder if captaining the white ball side will effect his bowling for the home summer. Though, like previously noted, that doesn't explain Patels poor form so far re Herath.Yeah that occurred to me as well, then I resolved in my mind that Ajaz is very formulaic and has probably reached his ceiling as a bowler. He's a one or two speed guy, turns it the same amount, very dependable in the right conditions but probably doesn't have any more strings to his bow. He's done incredibly well to go from being a club left arm seamer to a test spinner under Dipak Patel's guidance (who also turned Mark Craig from a batsman whose career was over with chronic fatigue to a test spinner)
I might argue that Santner is the bigger enigma - he's been capable of much more for so long but hasn't gone near it until this week. Tall guy, ****sure swagger, turns it, and I dunno - there's this intangible that always made me feel he was going to make it in Test cricket. I've always thought he would until the last year. Then I figured he didn't want it enough. But now, seemingly, he does, the coach (to his credit,) has backed him in, and obviously Santner has resolved in his mind that he wants to make a mark in Tests, not just be a franchise guy. And with all those tangibles and intangibles (I always felt the fact he's a better than scratch golfer is relevant, like Ricky Ponting) he's been in the perfect place and the perfect time for a mentor like Herath.
I'm backing him for a 5fer in the first innings of the next test tho