Shane Bond
BLACKCAPS strike bowler Shane Bond talks about his return to Test cricket, the state of the match and ripping through the Pakistani line up.
On being back bowling for the BLACKCAPS...
“I probably didn’t expect to bowl 24 overs, but in general I’m pretty happy to come through that my body felt pretty good through the whole day and its always nice to get wickets and I really enjoyed it.”
On the team’s position overall…
“We are in a good position. I think it’s important we clean up those wickets tomorrow morning and then we have got a hopefully good lead of 120 or 130 and then the game is ours to set up really. We could still lose the game if we bat poorly but if we play well then set the game up and hopefully be the only team that can win the game.”
On his second spell with good results…
“I think we all got a bit of a shock at how flat the wicket was when we first went out there with the new ball and I think we just had to make a conscious effort to run in hard an bowl aggressively on that wicket and I suppose that’s all it was, just a case of trying to run in and hit the deck, sometimes you leak a few runs doing that but I think you give yourself the best chance of taking wickets and things just went my way in that spell. Some things didn’t in others. Overall it was a pretty good day for me.”
On being back in the Test environment…
“I suppose I have the experience to fall back on. It is like starting again?
It is sort of surreal in some aspects, sort of weird that I am here playing a Test match. I think generally sometimes I bowl better in my second spell because its those nerves first up and once you get that first spell out of the way you can sort of settle into the game.
Everything has been good, it has been good easing back through Twenty20 and One-Day cricket but there is still something special about Test match cricket so it’s a great environment to be back in.”
