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Two-metre Kyle and the English sky: Jamieson’s ascent continues

A few Kohli fans have already called for his IPL contract to be cancelled

kyle-jamieson-nz-reuters New Zealand's Kyle Jamieson in action at the ICC World Test Championship Final in the Rose Bowl, Southampton on Sunday | Reuters

Okay, let’s get this out of the way. Kyle Jamieson has not bowled in a Test match outside of home conditions (English pitches are known to offer a similar fare to New Zealand). For all you know, a dusty Indian pitch under a baking sun could prove his undoing. A lot of Virat Kohli fans on social media are certainly looking forward to that day. (Some have already called for his Indian Premier League contract to be cancelled; he plays under Kohli there, for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.)

But that’s a bridge Jamieson will cross when he comes to it. As of now, eight matches in, the six-foot-eight medium-quick has taken 44 wickets, with five fifers, and has been the quickest Kiwi to the mark. A real scrooge with the ball, his average reads 14.13, and he picks up a wicket every six overs or so (strike rate 35.9).

He made his debut against India in February 2020, and took four in his first innings, including the wicket of Kohli. Under the English sky, he came back to haunt the Indians. He took five wickets, including captain Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant. He bowled 12 maidens, and gave away only 31 runs, at an economy rate of 1.4.

Born in Auckland, Jamieson, now 26, first got attention when he picked up 6 for 7 for Canterbury at Eden Park during the Super Smash T20 tournament; these were the best figures by a New Zealand bowler and the fourth-best overall in T20 cricket.

Growing up, Jamieson was a top-order batsman during his school days at Auckland Grammar. He moved to Canterbury in his teens to up his game, and transitioned into a bowling role in his late teens. It was Dayle Hadlee, former international cricketer and brother of New Zealand’s greatest fast bowler, Richard Hadlee, who spotted the tall boy. “At one time there it looked like he was treading treacle in his run up,” Dayle told Stuff last year. “In the end we suggested he might like to run in a little bit harder and attack the crease a bit.”

There was work to be done, and Dayle worked on his “find” and moulded him into a serious bowler. “I always liked batting, it was probably what I grew up admiring the most—whilst I did bowl, I did not think of that as my career option growing up,” Jamieson had said after his debut against India. “Now I'm a bowler who can bat, trying to get to the all-rounder stage, that's where I ideally want to be.”

The one part of his game that could use an edge is the pace. He usually hovers around the mid-130s, but the awkward bounce does make up for it.

And this bounce came in use at Southampton. Just before Jamieson got fellow tall lad Ishant Sharma caught behind, Indian commentator Dinesh Karthik observed that, with the New Zealander’s high release point (at 2.3m), batters have to look slightly higher than they do with regular bowlers. The bounce can throw off even the most established of batsmen, no offence to Ishant.

But it’s not all bounce when it comes to Jamieson. English commentator Nasser Hussain alerted the viewers in the first session that Jamieson had bowled fuller today, compared with yesterday. A full 85cm fuller on average. And that got him the wicket of Kohli. In fact, it was the only ball he had bowled to Kohli on the stumps. He had got Rohit with a full ball, too.

Former fast bowler and commentator Ian Bishop added that Jamieson had been fuller than swing bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult during the West Indies tour of New Zealand in December 2020.

As for his next victim of the day, Pant, he went over the wicket to change the angle. Hussain brought this up, saying that Jamieson was swinging it too much into the left-handed Pant to get an LBW decision. Now bowling from over the wicket, Jamieson tempted Pant with a wider one, and Pant took the bait. He was out caught behind.

The very next ball after he got Ishant, Jamieson trapped Jasprit Bumrah LBW with a yorker. Not the regular Test delivery, but that is just one of the quivers in Jamieson’s bow. Having already made it to the New Zealand side in all three formats, he has had to expand his arsenal from his junior days.

And he has not only taken up that challenge, he is, pardon the pun, taking giant strides on the international stage. Again, he still needs to be tested elsewhere. But hey, he’s done everything right till now. And if he continues like this, he has a chance to become one of the modern-day New Zealand greats.

Tall claim? Tell it to two-metre Kyle.

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