3 reasons why Neil Wagner would be impossible to replace for New Zealand

New Zealand's Neil Wagner called time on his international career on Tuesday (February 27) after he was informed by the team management that he would not be a part of the playing eleven for the first Test against Australia.

The left-arm seamer, who picked up 260 wickets in his Test career, was a vital member of the Black Caps when he was in his prime, and formed an enviable troika along with Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

However, his retirement will leave a gaping hole in the New Zealand side, with hardly anyone equipped enough to come in and replace him. We look at three reasons why Wagner will be impossible to replace for New Zealand:

#1 Workhorses like him are hard to find

It goes without saying that workhorses like Wagner are extremely rare to find in modern-day cricket.

Despite playing second fiddle to the likes of Tim Southee and Trent Boult over his career, Wagner seems to have lost his place in the squad to the likes of Adam Milne, Matt Henry and William O'Rourke in recent times.

However, there are very few players like Wagner who can work hard for long periods of time and keep going for as long as their skipper wants them to.

This was the most endearing quality in Wagner - to maintain the same work ethic day in and day out.

#2 His ability to hit the deck hard was unmatched

Wagner was one of the few bowlers going around in world cricket who based their game primarily on hitting the deck hard and getting it to seam around whenever he pitched it fuller. Whenever the surface had something to give, Wagner was able to extract it given his ability to understand what lay beneath.

While his vast experience in first-class cricket must have helped him, Wagner's expertise with the ball was unmatched. Often asked to bowl at one-change, the left-armer used the pitch to his great advantage.

#3 A combo of left-arm pace and skiddy bounce is unheard of

Wagner held the distinct and dangerous combination of being a left-arm seamer who could get the ball to skid.

What hurt opposition batters a lot was Wagner's ability to get the ball to bounce from odd lengths and skid it through when they least expected it to. Australia's modern-day batting great Steven Smith can attest very well to this fact. He ended up being Wagner's 'bunny' for most of his career.

There will be very few batters in world cricket as relieved as Smith to see Wagner calling it a day.

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