Needing five wickets at the start of fourth day, New Zealand had to wait longer than they would've expected, courtesy a defiant seventh-wicket 118-run stand by Sean Williams and Graeme Cremer. After the early departure of Craig Ervine, Williams and Cremer batted for 33.2 overs. While the former raced away to the fastest century by a Zimbabwean, the skipper played a sedate 130-ball innings, scoring only 33. With little help from the pitch for the pacers, the visiting bowlers had a tough time finding ways to get rid of the pair.
"The way we bowled in the first innings was a huge part of how we got ahead. When you are tying to bowl that again, it's going to be extremely challenging," Williamson said. "Sometimes, on surfaces like this one, you need to try and be a little bit creative. You want to try and make things hostile and difficult but you also need to be patent and build pressure.
"It was a very good effort to get 20 wickets. We knew it was going to be tough. We had to fight very hard to pick up the wickets that we did. It's about thinking on your feet and staying ahead of the game. The bowlers did a fantastic job which certainly makes any captain's job easier. The spinner's bowled well and the seamers certainly led the way which was great," he added.
Even as Trent Boult was the most successful bowler in the second innings, it was Neil Wagner who impressed with his bowling performance in the match. After troubling the Zimbabwean batsmen with a barrage of short-pitched deliveries in the first innings (in which he scalped six wickets), he managed to get the ball to reverse swing in the second essay.
No comments:
Post a Comment