It's a bit of an unknown for all of us whether there is some kind of pitch composition that could be devised to make a final day's play or a fourth innings more of a source of great confidence for our spinners, also a chance for truly expert players of spin to put their name up in lights. It's been proven we can create a few 'aim for 150' pitches with lots of turn for our domestic T20 in January, but they're not enjoyed much by the young players or the local fans.
For now, one or two Kiwis might be looking at England and the decade they've just had with the Jeetan Patels and Simon Harmers to the fore, but they're thinking "what was the point in tilting the local game away from one's strengths, if there still aren't any brilliant English spinners to show for it? Don't let a pursuit of all-round perfection become the enemy of the good."
We can already ask ourselves whether the four* consecutive seasons where conditions were spin-friendly enough that spinners topped the Plunket Shield wicket charts actually helped our spin bowlers, and perhaps by extension some batsmen too.
A. Patel - the only unequivocal yes
Tastle - probably yes, though unfortunately got injured at the wrong time, retired and now we'll never know if he had more to offer
Sodhi - topped the charts one season but is still nothing like a test bowler
Santner - did not partake
Nethula - second highest wicket taker twice but then retired
So, a minor success.
* edited after looking this up. It was:
18/19: 1st Sodhi
17/18: 1st Ajaz, 4th Jeets
16/17: 1st Ajaz, 2nd Nethula, 3rd Sodhi, 5th Tastle
15/16: 1st Ajaz, 2nd Nethula, 4th Tastle
Also both 13/14 and 14/15: 2nd Tastle
And then the trend finished - both 19/20 and 20/21 the highest spin bowler was 7th.