Gary Stead praises Trent Boult after New Zealand victory over India
- Head coach Gary Stead praises the left-armer after his 4-33
- New Zealand prevailed by six wickets with West Indies to come in their second warm-up
The “impeccable” Trent Boult earned a heap of praise from head coach Gary Stead as New Zealand’s tournament preparation started perfectly with a warm-up victory over India.
Boult proved the star as three quick wickets helped his side make early inroads, removing Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul to reduce India to 24-3 at The Oval.
The swing bowler returned to add another to his collection and finish with 4-33 in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup warm-up, while Jimmy Neesham bagged three scalps as India fell to 179 all out within 40 overs.
New Zealand chased down the target with six wickets to spare thanks to Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson fifties, though Stead’s admiration remained with his left-arm swing bowler.
“Trent Boult is a fine bowler if there’s a little swing or something in the wicket,” said the head coach. “He was always challenging the top of the stumps, his lengths were impeccable.
“He didn’t play a lot of matches in the Indian Premier League but got a lot of bowling in while he was there, he’s a key part of our bowling attack.
“I was a little surprised that we got as many wickets as we did early on, but the conditions were helpful for us in the morning.
“There was a little bit in the wicket, some swing as well, and sometimes it can end up doing too much.
“Our bowling was very good, if we keep that it up it’s very positive for the rest of the tournament.
“It was a little challenging early on, the lengths we bowled were outstanding for a first blow-out. We’re planning for conditions to be different everywhere we play, so we pride ourselves on adjustability.”
New Zealand had not played a 50-over match since February but showed no signs of rustiness with Boult and Colin de Grandhomme – who bagged the wicket of Virat Kohli – taking early wickets in favourable conditions.
Hardik Pandya (30) and Ravindra Jadeja (54) steadied the ship but Williamson’s side refused to let their opponents settle, Neesham’s 3-26 leading the push for wickets in the middle overs.
Williamson and Taylor then steered the chase with a 114-run partnership, after India had struck with Jasprit Bumrah and Pandya in the powerplay.
The win was wrapped up with almost 13 overs to go but Stead – whose side made the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final in 2015 – is keen to keep feet on the ground.
“We can take a good amount of confidence from that, we haven’t got together for the best part of two months, these two games are really important for us to spend some time together and playing together,” he added.
“But this game has no bearing with what’s ahead in the World Cup, we have some confidence and we’ll let this go very quickly before moving on to West Indies in the next warm-up.
“When we play India at Trent Bridge, in the tournament, it’s starting again with another new game.
“As a coach, you’re always striving for more – we’ll regroup and see where everyone is at and then see where everyone is at ahead of Bristol.”