Birthday Special: Neil Wagner – The unsung hero of New Zealand’s Test cricket success
One of New Zealand’s most important Test players, Neil Wagner turns 35 today. While the likes of Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Ross Taylor are widely seen as New Zealand’s most important players, it won’t be wrong to state that Wagner is in the same league when it comes to Test cricket.
The left-arm pacer has been an indispensable part of New Zealand’s Test team in the last five years or so. Ironically, the South Africa-born cricketer had initially struggled to find a regular place in their first-choice Test XI. He proved his worth in 2014 with match figures of 8/126 in a 40-run victory over India at Eden Park.
2016 – the breakthrough
Despite that performance, Wagner’s struggle to maintain his place continued. The pacer finally enjoyed his breakthrough performance in 2016, when he picked up 7 wickets including 6 wickets in the first innings against Australia in the Christchurch Test. What made that performance even better was that Wagner played through the pain barrier after suffering a broken bowling knuckle on the ring finger of his bowling hand while trying to hold a catch from Joe Burns.
He was New Zealand’s most successful Test bowler statistically that year as he picked up 32 wickets in seven matches and has not looked back since then. In addition to being one of the best Test bowlers at present, Wagner has earned the reputation of being one of the toughest cricketers. In December last year, he had famously bowled with a fractured foot against Pakistan.
Wagner is also one of the most hard-working bowlers. Time and again, he has shown just how hard he can work by bowling relentlessly during tough moments for the sake of his team. Earlier this year, New Zealand made it to the top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time in their history and Wagner played a key role in it. The left-arm pacer has played 51 Tests so far and has picked up 219 wickets. The way he has performed in recent years, it won’t be surprising at all if Wagner goes on to play 51 more Tests or even more.
