Comeback victory pleases Williamson

Cricket365
January 16, 2017

Black Caps Skipper Kane Williamson was delighted with his team’s resilience after they came back from conceding 595 runs in the first innings to beat Bangladesh by seven wickets.

Williamson lauded the effort of Tom Latham whose 177 in New Zealand’s first innings allowed them to get close to the Tigers total.

Williamson said: “To even get close was a huge effort, from then on it became a second-innings match.

“On the back of a fantastic knock by Tommy Latham, there were a lot of partnerships throughout which we felt were very important. We felt we just had to get as close as we could to their score.

“We knew the wicket was still good but if we are able to put them under pressure late in the day and take a few wickets, it might help our cause. The [bowlers] stepped up after the first innings. They showed lot of energy, put the ball in right area.”

Williamson was also keen to highlight the effort put in by the bowlers in the second innings, who bowled Bangladesh out and transferred the pressure to the tourists.

He added: “The way our bowlers came back after a really tough first innings and bowled with energy and put the ball in right area was a great effort, which set the game up for us.”

New Zealand still had some way to go with time running out but a quickfire stand between Cap’s Stalwarts Williamson, who scored a rapid hundred, and Ross Taylor who clocked a quick 60 set up a thrilling win.

Williamson went on: “Coming into the last two sessions, either team could have won it.

“We needed to knuckle down, get a partnership together and get bit of momentum. When you are 2 for 30-odd, 200 can be quite long way away in the last innings. It was nice to be able to get that momentum.”