Santner desperate to replicate 2015 class and inspire New Zealand to World Cup final

• New Zealand made it two wins from two by beating Bangladesh at The Oval
• Ross Taylor hit 82 as they sneaked home by two wickets

New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner wants to take inspiration from the Black Caps’ charge to the final of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final four years ago.

Santner hit the winning runs as New Zealand sneaked past Bangladesh at The Oval by two wickets to make it two wins out of two, finishing on 17 not out from 12 balls.

He also put in a vital performance with the ball, taking one for 41 from his ten overs.

The left-arm spinner, who missed most of 2018 with a serious knee injury, was playing domestic cricket four years ago when the Black Caps lost their first World Cup final to co-hosts Australia.

Santner, 27, said: “You want to perform on the biggest stage and there’s none bigger than the World Cup.

“I watched a lot of World Cups when I was growing up and watching the whole of New Zealand get around the lads in 2015 was awesome. If we can replicate that and maybe go one further this time, that would be nice.”

Santner made his ODI debut at Edgbaston in 2015 in the now famous game when England passed 400 for the first time and kick-started their white-ball revolution.

Santner was modest about his performance with the bat against Bangladesh, joking that hitting the winning runs “could have been worse”.

He added: “It was nice to get the boys over the line. It got a bit tighter than we would have liked but we’ll take the win and move on to the next game.”

With the ball, he had been hit for a solitary boundary until his final delivery – which he described as a “moon ball’ – disappeared over the ropes for six.

He helped build up pressure on the Bangladesh batsmen which led to the run out of Mushfiqur Rahim after a dangerous half-century partnership with captain Shakib Al Hasan.

Santner said: “The wicket was probably a bit slower than we thought it would be so my role throughout the middle there was to change my pace and bowl good areas.

“As a spinner, if you’re tying down a subcontinental teams you must be doing a pretty good job. Shakib and Mushy were going pretty well for a while.”

Santner is expecting spin to play a significant part in the tournament as it progressed.

He added: “We’ve already seen that if it doesn’t swing early and there are some used wickets, spinners have done a pretty good job.

“It’s going to key to bowl teams out high-scoring games in on the flat surfaces that you expect here.

“You have to weigh up whether that’s the bowler at the other end is doing a good job and your role is to dot it up or to try and take wickets.”