The New Zealand’s stand-in skipper offered an interesting view in relation to his team’s victory by an innings & 117 runs in the second Test of the two-match series versus Bangladesh on January 11.
As Kiwis secured a three-day finish at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch to level the series 1-1, Tom Latham talked about the scoring rate at which his team went about in their only innings of the game.
Kiwis posted an insurmountable 521/6 declared in their first innings after losing the toss and being put into bat. But more eye-catchingly, it took them only 128.5 overs to get there, a period of just over four sessions.
Latham himself took just 373 balls to make his massive 252 at the top of the order. He believes a quicker scoring rate put Bangladesh under pressure and allowed them to get the visitors into bat when the surface was still quite fresh.
NZ tracks tend to get slower and slower as the game progresses, but the hosts caught their opposition well before that and dismissed them for 126 and 278.
“The rate that I scored at was probably most pleasing, being able to put them under pressure. (We could) ask them to come back for spell after spell, I thought we three guys – myself, Will Young and Devon Conway – did that well on the first day,”
Latham was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo after the win.
Unlike the last Test in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand’s much-vaunted pace battery looked at their best. Trent Boult took a five-fer (5/43) in the first innings, where Tim Southee bagged three wickets. In the second half, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner shared the bulk of the Bangladeshi wickets that fell.
“I thought we bowled well in partnerships and being patient at both ends. We kept them under pressure for a long time. You can score quickly on this surface. The way we found different ways to get guys out, it was the most pleasing thing,”
Latham added.
A victory also allowed the defending World Test Championship champions to earn their first winning points in the new cycle of the competition, where they next play South Africa at home for another two-match series in February.
