Cricket: Promising spinners get chance in sub-continent

Todd Astle was discarded after a poor Plunket Shield. Photo / Getty Images

Bowling on the sub-continent should be every spinner's dream, and one-test leggie Todd Astle and promising but raw Northern Districts twirler Ish Sodhi get a chance to present their credentials on the A squad tour to India and Sri Lanka from late next month.
Canterbury's Astle was discarded after a poor Plunket Shield and a single test - the win over Sri Lanka in Colombo last year. Northern Districts' 20-year-old Sodhi is highly regarded.

With question marks over Dan Vettori as he recovers from an operation on his troublesome Achilles, and veteran Bruce Martin's longevity, a tour to a part of the cricket world spinners relish offers an enticing prospect for Astle and Sodhi.

Otago's trip to the Champions League means three players dropping out after two games, which is not ideal, but offers extra opportunities.

The selectors, Mike Hesson and Kim Littlejohn, have rewarded batsmen who put up good shield numbers last season. Daryl Mitchell, son of former All Black coach John (709 runs at 54), Carl Cachopa (907 at 47), Neil Broom (624 at 44) and Colin Munro, whose 623 runs for Auckland came at a whopping 124.6, fit that bill.

There appear, however, to be no specialist opening batsmen - Central Districts' Jeet Raval would have been a contender.

You could also wonder what new they will learn from 33-year-old Mark Gillespie that they don't already know.

The tour, a mix of one, three and four-day fixtures against those countries counterparts, is partly designed with the Future Tours Programme in mind, wherein much of New Zealand's cricket in the coming years will be played on the sub-continent. "Players like Daryl Mitchell, Ish Sodhi and Matthew Henry are all exciting prospects for the future, and this offers them an opportunity to continue their development," Littlejohn said.

New Zealand A squad

Luke Ronchi, Mark Gillespie (Wellington), Neil Broom, Jimmy Neesham, Derek de Boorder (Otago), Carl Cachopa, Doug Bracewell, Adam Milne (Central Districts), Tom Latham, Todd Astle, Matt Henry (Canterbury), Daryl Mitchell, Corey Anderson, Ish Sodhi (Northern Districts), Colin Munro (Auckland). Broom, Neesham and de Boorder will only play the long format games against India A. Anton Devcich (ND), Scott Kuggeleijn (ND) and Andrew Ellis (Canterbury) replace them.