New Zealand who is playing a two-Test series against England drew the first Test at Lord’s after a washed-out Day 3. Thus, even though Mitchell Santner did not pick any wicket in the match, New Zealand coach Gary Stead felt having Santner in the team was the right decision.

Ahead of the first England Test, a cut on left-arm spinner’s finger reopened and he went wicketless in the game, Stead still backed Santner to come good in the second Test which gets underway from Thursday.

“I thought Mitch bowled really well in that first innings and could easily have picked up 2-3 wickets and cleaned them up 50-60 runs earlier and the game might have looked different,” stuff.co.nz quoted Stead as saying.

“Absolutely think having a spinner in the team was the right decision in this Test match. The pitches here provide us with a slightly different outlook to New Zealand. A spinner is certainly, when we look at Edgbaston, a likely course of action,” he added.

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The debutant New Zealand opener Devon Conway who looked really good in the first innings of the visitors as he scored a superb double-century on debut, other Kiwi batsmen were not able to score big runs like him.

“Considering it was the first time we have played together as a team for a couple of months, it is always hard when you start on overseas tours to get that first match under your belt. Everyone wants us to win and expects us to win which is great, but doing it overseas is very tough and that day of rain proved out of our reach,” Stead said.

After the Test series against England, Kane Williamson and Co. is scheduled to take on Team India in the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship (WTC 2021 Final) at Southampton from June 18.

(With ANI inputs)