Daniel Vettori
The BLACKCAPS captain Daniel Vettori reflects on the Test match victory
On having the crowd behind the team...
"The crowd was amazing. It lifted everyone and it was almost the first thing we spoke about when we came off the field. What a great feeling to win the test match – but in front of a crowd that was so into it."
On getting into a winning position...
There was talk all the way through of hanging in there. If we put the ball in the right areas then the wicket would take over – it was a little bit variable. It gave the bowlers enough to keep them in the game.
On the impressive bowling display...
Today I think we finished it off well. I probably set the right fields to their tail-enders and we got it right. Iain and Shane both bowling eight overs in a row just brought us into the game. For all three seamers to step up with a huge workload was fantastic.
On securing the victory...
I think we wanted to control the game a bit better than we did. We put ourselvews in a difficult and precarious situation. But it’s always a fourth innings wicket and if you look at the history of the game there’s not many teams that get 250 on the last day of a Test match. So history was on our side, but we still had to bowl well and fortunately we did.
Shane Bond
Strike bowler Shane Bond talks about the impact of the crowd and the feeling in the dressing room.
On the impact of the crowd...
"There was a time when I thought the game was drifting away and then we got a sniff and the crowd got into the game – that gave everyone a lift and we kicked on from there."
On the feeling in the dressing room...
"It was perfect really. That’s why you want to play Test cricket – because it is a true test. It was great cricket and to win in a team that’s working so hard as well makes it satisfying, because the boys are putting in a lot of hard work and we’re starting to reap the rewards from it."
