Cricket: At last, search for spin is over

Ish Sodhi is still learning.

It was not so long ago New Zealand were scouring the country for the next spin hope.

Dan Vettori had been a champion for many years but was recovering from injury. His future was up in the air.

Todd Astle got a trip to Sri Lanka and played a test late last year. Bruce Martin had his chance when England arrived in March. He did well for a time but didn't grab his opportunity and lost his place in Bangladesh in October.

Ish Sodhi was an under-19 international who had been under scrutiny from experienced eyes and was called up for the Bangladesh trip. There, he supplanted Martin and now it appears the search, at least in the medium term, is over.

Sodhi, 21, has just completed his third test, in which he's taken 10 wickets, albeit at 48.3 runs apiece, scored a half century and generally showed he is settling into the New Zealand set-up admirably.

In the draw over the West Indies, he took two for 63 and two for 155. There were some loose moments - but they are an occupational hazard for leggies, apart of course, from the great Shane Warne.

The learning process gained momentum in the first innings as he was worked around the University Oval outfield by veteran left-hander Shiv Chanderpaul. Sodhi loves bowling, can't get enough of it, and will think hard about how the quick-footed Chanderpaul handled him.

But he got wickets and was prepared to experiment.

Sodhi was also rewarded for some careful planning, notably getting opener Kirk Edwards lbw with a quicker straight ball after a couple of deliveries had been slower and tossed up. Denesh Ramdin was beaten and bowled by a nicely pitched googly.

"When you plan something and it comes off it's more satisfying," Sodhi said. "So I was pretty happy with the way those two went."

Sodhi has height on his side but has plenty of developing to do. The art of legspin is perhaps cricket's most demanding and most likely it will be several seasons before he really cashes in on his learnings.

Sodhi singled out former New Zealand offspinner Paul Wiseman, for special praise: "He's been pretty instrumental for me in the past couple of years. I talk to him whenever I feel the need," Sodhi said. "He helps devise plans and helps gauge information on how [batsmen] will play on certain surfaces, paces to bowl, and it's all sort of worked out all right so far."

Sodhi, whom Vettori rates highly and has worked with through their Northern Districts connections, is loving the learning process.

"I'm learning every single minute. When it comes to stuff on the field and off the field there's a whole lot of things that you sort of have to build together as a routine and it's something that I'm learning slowly.

"But I'm lucky to have the opportunity to learn at a young age and so hopefully it'll give me a little bit of fortune later in my career."

His rate of progress is bad news for the other spinners wheeling away on the domestic stage and possessing aspirations for higher honours.

But it's good news for New Zealand - for whom finding decent quality legspin has long been a frustrating business.