'Stop hiding in the grass' - Ian Smith criticises New Zealand's over-reliance on pacers at home

Former New Zealand cricketer Ian Smith has blatantly called out Kane Williamson’s men for their over-dependence on their pacers at home. The commentator hasn’t been impressed with the team’s spinners as they have been far from impressive in the ongoing Test between India and New Zealand in Kanpur.

While it is no secret that the subcontinent wickets are conducive to spin, the Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson has had to depend on his pacers this time around as despite having two genuine spinners and a spin all-rounder in their side, none of them have looked threatening.

The spinners of New Zealand have picked just three wickets in the first Test against India, all three of them being picked by the left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. The pace duo of Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee, on the other hand, have been lethal, to say the least. While the 32-year-old veteran has picked eight wickets in the match, the 26-year-old has picked six wickets in this Test.

It’s a hell of a compliment to Southee and Jamieson that we’re still playing this Test: Ian Smith

Smith was disappointed with the Kiwi spinners in the ongoing Test match at Kanpur. He urged his former team to start developing quality spinners and stop “hiding in the grass” at home.

“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.

He also spoke about how the pacers of the Blackcaps have still kept them in the game. “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 scalps they’ve got so far are to spin.” he said.

The cricketer-turned commentator also spoke about how New Zealand went with an all-pace approach during their successful WTC (World Test Championship) 2021 final. “The greatest of the tweakers, Shane Warne, marvelled 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.