BLACKCAPS captain Kane Williamson's relaxed about the nature of Saturday's winner take all Test series finale against South Africa at Centurion.
The weather affected draw in the opening match in Durban means a historic first series victory over the Proteas is up for grabs in Pretoria for Williamson and his men.
“You don’t have too many lotteries in Test cricket. Generally the team that plays the more consistent cricket wins the game or gets ahead in the match,” the BLACKCAPS skipper said on the eve of the series decider.
“It is what it is now, so our preparation is very much around getting our head around this surface, adapting, learning a few lessons from the last game and putting in a strong performance.”
Williamson, who has already carved a fair amount of his own history, said the prospect of his team doing something that’s never been achieved before is exciting, but not a focus.
“It’s certainly not looked at very closely. Yes, it’s a stat that would be nice if it eventuates, but it’s all about us playing our cricket.”
The Centurion pitch isn’t as green as what was produced in Kingsmead, but Williamson felt it looked a good Test wicket.
”There’s a little bit of grass on it. We’re just wanting to know with the sun out, how much it may have dried out, possibly with that extra spin option in mind.”
The match will be a homecoming of sorts for Pretoria born pace bowler Neil Wagner.
The 30 year old left armer has cemented his spot as the third seamer in the side through a run of consistent performances which has him up to 10th on the Test bowling rankings.
“Wags has been outstanding for us for a long period of time, particularly on surfaces that don’t offer a huge amount of seam movement or swing and he’s able to create opportunities. He bowls long spells and always want the ball in his hand which is certainly nice from a captaincy perspective.
“When you throw him into the mix with Tim, Trent and Doug who look to exploit that seam and swing movement, it’s a nice balance to have.”
The game starts at 8 o'clock Saturday night NZT, 10am local time and is live on SKY SPORTS.
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