England rope in Jeetan Patel as spin-bowling consultant

Jeetan Patel, the former New Zealand cricketer, has been roped in as England’s spin-bowling consultant. The recruitment was made keeping in mind the Three Lions’ tour of South Africa and Sri Lanka. The 39-year-old will join the Three Lions ahead of the opening Test versus the Proteas, scheduled to get underway on Thursday, December 26 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.

The Wellington-born is currently in New Zealand where he represented his side Wellington in the domestic One-Day tournament. In five matches, the veteran tweaker picked up as many wickets. Patel is now set to ply his craft in the 2019-20 edition of the Super Smash. He is set to play his last match for his franchise on Wednesday, December 18 against Central Districts at the Basin Reserve.

Talking about his forthcoming stint with the Brits, Patel stated that he can’t afford to turn his back to the offer. He reckons that such chances are few and few between in England cricket. “The opportunity to take up a role with England is one that doesn’t come around often and one I simply can’t turn down,” Patel was quoted as saying in a statement.

Jeetan Patel- A Warwickshire stalwart

Patel had performed a role, similar to that of a bowling consultant, during the T20I leg of England’s tour of New Zealand. The visitors, led by Eoin Morgan, won the five-match series 3-2 after the last encounter at the Eden Park in Auckland went into a Super Over. Patel has a fair amount of knowledge of English conditions as well, having played for Warwickshire.

At the county circuit, he worked with Ashley Giles, the current England men’s team director. Patel has amassed as many as 473 first-class wickets for the county and remains committed to playing one more season next year. Overall, Patel has 892 first-class, 288 List A and 229 T20 wickets.

He made his debut for the Black Caps way back in August 2005 against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club. He ended up playing 24 Tests, 43 ODIs and 11 T20Is where he picked up 65, 49 and 16 wickets respectively. Patel last donned the national colours in 2017 against Bangladesh.