First series win in England since 1999 was agency focus, says vice-captain
New Zealand’s series win in England is their first since 1999 and so they have a possibility so as to add the inaugural World Test Championship title subsequent week once they play India on the Ageas Bowl.
“It’s a unbelievable achievement from the group. I feel it is essential that we have fun with one another. It hasn’t been carried out since ’99. For us to return right here as a gaggle, it was about attempting to play our model of cricket and I assumed we did that actually nicely over the 4 days and received our rewards on the finish.”
“I definitely keep in mind staying up late, watching groups come over to England and enjoying Test cricket – at Lord’s, and all these iconic grounds. For us to return right here and put a efficiency on the board that was true to us was actually essential.
“It was about trying to do what we do really well and I thought we did. [It’s] well documented that ’99 was the last time we’d won here and we have been here a couple of times in recent years and haven’t quite got the rewards. It’s certainly an achievement that’s worth celebrating.”
New Zealand’s series win additionally took them again to No. 1 within the ICC’s Test rankings, leapfrogging India, their upcoming opponents. They reached the summit for the primary time earlier this 12 months after beating Pakistan, earlier than India nudged previous them following their 3-1 series win in opposition to England in March.
They made six adjustments from the group that drew at Lord’s, with Kane Williamson, BJ Watling, and Mitchell Santner struggling elbow, again and finger niggles respectively, and Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson all rested forward of the principle occasion.
Latham stated that New Zealand count on to have a clear invoice of well being main into that final, and paid tribute to the power in depth inside the squad.
“It was amazing from a personnel change of six guys. That hasn’t happened for a long time in this group and it has been a hard team to crack into. For all those guys to get that opportunity – Will Young, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel – was fantastic. They performed their roles really well.
“[Watling and Williamson] are travelling moderately nicely. It was essential for them to get somewhat little bit of relaxation so as to be absolutely match heading into subsequent week. Fingers crossed we’ll have a fully-fit squad.”
As for the challenge India will present, Latham said that their performances on their tour of England in 2018 – albeit in a 4-1 series defeat – demonstrated that they would be tough to beat at the Ageas Bowl.
“They’ve received a unbelievable set of bowlers, [and] a variety of high quality batsmen which have scored runs in several circumstances all around the world. They have been over right here a couple of years in the past and performed rather well, so we all know we’ll should play nicely to beat them.
“Our focus will shift to them in a couple of days. The preparation has been great but it’s important that we do shift our focus and adapt to a completely different side.”
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
