| That same weekend, Auckland FC, New Zealand’s first football team to play in the Australian premier league, won their first match, beating Brisbane Roar 2-0 in front of a capacity crowd at Mount Smart, while Auckland-born Chris Wood continued to slot in the goals for Nottingham Forest. Seismic events that tickled the government press release machine into action: “I think Kiwi sports fans can be forgiven if they’re caught yawning at work today,” beamed the sports minister, Chris Bishop, “after so much sporting excitement packed into one weekend!” But Santner’s left-arm magic would, arguably, top the lot. The following Friday, a man who had never before taken a first-class five-fer had bowled New Zealand to victory in the second Test and with it secured his country’s first ever series win in India – having previously drawn a blank in 12 attempts over 62 years. It was India’s first series defeat at home since losing to Alastair Cook’s men in 2012 (incidentally a tour where England played three first-class warm-up matches). That’s 4,431 days of domination. Santner probably wasn’t the first name on Rohit Sharma’s “bowlers to fear” list. In fact he might not have made the list at all. He had never taken more than three wickets in a Test innings, never more than six in a match. A white-ball specialist at heart, he has more than 200 one-day international and IT20 games under his belt, and 222 wickets in his pocket, as well as spells at the Hundred, Caribbean Premier League, Indian Premier League and Major League Cricket. Comparatively, his 28-match Test career before Pune had brought the relatively modest tally of 54 wickets. No wonder those 29 overs on the trot in the second innings were a bit of stretch, No wonder his side was aching. But when it is your moment, you grab it – though obviously in a low-key, defiantly modest, New Zealand way. He varied his pace, attacked the stumps, bowled Virat Kohli with a full toss in the first innings. Got rid of the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second as well as Sharma, Shubman Gill and Kohli for a second time. “I’ve been in and out [of Test cricket],” he said afterwards. “But to get conditions like this and put in a shift like that was pretty pleasing. I guess to do it against India and beat them at their own game was the most pleasing thing for me.” Then he scratched his head and added: “On a pitch where one will skid and one will spin, it becomes an accuracy thing.” His captain, Tom Latham, thought it was a bit more than an accuracy thing, what with the history-making and everything. “He’s been around the group for a long time and to finally hit a break and bowl the way he has, not only in the first innings but in the second innings, he bowled fantastically well. The credit has to go to him.” Just like the White Ferns in the Women’s World Cup, who arrived with a string of defeats under their belt, no one gave New Zealand a prayer in India – they’d just lost 2-0 to Sri Lanka and were without the talismanic Kane Williamson. But New Zealand are used to being underestimated – it’s where they thrive best. And the cricketing wins can be nothing but helpful for a sport desperate not to go the way of rugby where, in Auckland at least, the clubs are struggling to attract young kids and schools are concentrating on being active rather than teaching ball sports. Santner couldn’t have timed his Test-best any better. Quote of the week “Clearly we’ve made mistakes, and whether that’s from an execution point of view or shot-selection point of view, we’ll review that.” Western Australia’s coach, Adam Voges, after his team lost their last eight wickets for one run (a wide) against Tasmania, to be bowled out for 53. The cricket statisticians and historians noted it was “(as far as we can find) unprecedented in List A cricket.” Coach’s view Two weeks ago The Spin got an email from reader Peter Welsh. It pointed out that despite all the articles on Durham fast bowlers and their coaching team, the one person who never got mentioned was Alan Walker, who had “delivered a billion throwdowns, 745,000 pieces of advice and is a great crack with fans”. So, thanks to Durham’s press officer, we tracked the elusive Walker down, ticking off the jobs around the house that go undone during the season. A fast bowler first at Northants, he followed Geoff Cook to Chester-le-Street, where he started coaching the second team 27 years ago. And he’s still there. How have things changed over the last 27 years? “I am very low tech, I’ve always loved watching the game, watching from various view points, but modern players don’t want to do that in the same way. “I’m not critical … everyone is part of their own era, but we used to look after ourselves a bit more. Now players want all the answers, they observe less. “I’d like to see them take a little more responsibility and the better players do – that’s why they get on. I remember saying ‘if I ever say in my day, shoot me’ – but sometimes …” Some of those who have passed through the system stick in the brain forever. “You’d have to be fairly stupid if you thought Stokesy wasn’t going to make it. Mark Wood was just a steady medium pacer when he reached the academy, there was no hint of what he’d become. “Pottsy was good, he’s worked really hard and made the absolute most of what he has got, and Carsey has worked hard but been held back by his injuries. I thought he was brilliant in the Test in Pakistan. Harmy – well, there are loads of things that make a cricketer, it’s not just as straightforward as people say. You couldn’t get a word out of him when he first joined, and now he’s in the media so it just shows how people can develop.” And what keeps him going, through 70,000 plus side armers a year? “My enthusiasm for the game is there still, I still get excited driving through the gates. We’ve a nice little squad of players, and the beauty is lots of north-east lads get a chance to play for Durham.” Memory lane Happy birthday Courtney Walsh. Sixty-two years ago today, one of the all-time bowling greats was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He would go on to form one of the most formidable pace partnerships in history alongside Curtly Ambrose, but later had the spotlight all to himself as he became the first bowler to reach 500 Test wickets. Despite his career haul of 519 since being reeled in by eight others, he remains the fourth most prolific wicket-taking fast bowler in Test cricket. The moment itself came in March 2001, on day three of the second Test against South Africa in Port of Spain. Two balls after he had the opener Gary Kirsten caught behind to bring up No 499, which set off an anticipatory murmur all around the ground, he got one to arc in mischievously off the deck into Jacques Kallis’s pads, removing the No 3 for a two-ball duck. Cue pure joy on and off the field. South Africa went on to win the match by 69 runs, but the home faithful still had plenty to celebrate. It was a milestone 16 years, four months in the making, since taking his first couple on debut in an innings victory over Australia in Perth. A month after reaching his milestone – and having helped himself to another 19 wickets in the rest of the series – he called time. Walsh’s overall Test figures are outstanding but barely tell the story of a wonderful career that married menace with confidence-sapping metronomy: 519 wickets from 132 matches at an average of 24.44. | 