New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson lauded the team’s dominant all-round performances against England in the first Test of the two-match Test series at Eden Park (Auckland). In the rain-marred Test match, host New Zealand won by an innings and 49 runs on the fifth day.
It was the first ever day/night Test match on the New Zealand soil which went remarkably for them. After dismissing the whole England team by just 58 runs in the first innings, New Zealand replied with 427/8 decl. in the rain-interrupted innings. In the second innings, England was bowled out for 320 runs as they were still 49-runs behind from New Zealand’s first innings total.
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Speaking of team’s performances, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said, “It was a brilliant match for our team, in all departments. The first innings, I’ve already mentioned it being that perfect storm. The boys put the ball in beautiful areas, it offered a little bit, they found the edge, they found off stump, and that’s always nice when that happens.”
In batting, While Williamson scored 102 runs, Henry Nicholls remained unbeaten on 145 runs. This two innings set up the match for New Zealand while most of the other batsmen failed to score big runs but provided some important partnerships.
Talking about their batting performances in this Test, Williamson commented, “For the guys to build those partnerships with the bat was really pleasing to see against a really good English bowling attack, where runs were quite tough to come by. Henry Nicholls was just outstanding the way he played.”
On the final day of the Test, Williamson was expecting the hard fightback from English batsmen and the visitors showed that too. But, Williamson believes that the applying continuous pressure on the English batsmen helped them to snatch a victory.
Williamson quoted on that, “We were fully expecting that tough graft coming into today, and England showed that. They fought really hard, and we were able to just apply that pressure throughout the day, stick with them in the long game, and just pounce on some opportunities.”
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Williamson also praised Todd Astle, the 31-years old leg-spinner. Astle first time bowled in this Test match during 68th over of England’s second innings and provided an important bowling performance by taking three wickets (3/39) in that innings.
Talking about him, Williamson said, “I was very keen to get him into the game a lot earlier. But it just didn’t eventuate straight away. He’s a great team man, so it didn’t bother him and when his opportunity came, which was late today, he took it with both hands, and he was brilliant.”
