Kyle Jamieson fires New Zealand to massive innings win and No. 1 in the rankings
Pakistan collapse in a heap against unrelenting pace and hostility
Pakistan collapse in a heap against unrelenting pace and hostility
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: @AlMuthu
That's all we have for you. Thank you for joining us throughout this amazing Test summer which ends with New Zealand as the No. 1 team in the world and potentially inching their way towards that World Test championship final. India and Australia are still ahead of them on percentage points. But stranger things have happened. Anyway, this is Al Muthu signing off on behalf of Shashank Kishore, P Ranjith and Thilak Ram. Have fun you lot!
Kane Williamson is Man of the Series: It's an incredible couple of games. Huge amount of effort goes into every Test match and we were up against a quality side in Pakistan and even though the result on paper was very much in favour of us, it was a game of small margins. At times we had a bit of luck go our way and that helped us create partnerships. We are realistic about that. Very proud moment as a team at the end of our Test summer and we know we've achieved something special. Both guys have been involved in a number of formats through the last couple of years, Kyle is a special cricketer, his contributions as soon as he's hit international cricket is immense. And along with Daryl as well, in a role that isn't natural, he bats a little bit higher. The attitude they've had coming in has been very good. The way Daryl came out and batted, increasing the run-rate when we needed, he fully deserved that hundred. It was a real battle for a long time. I didn't know where I was going to get another run. But it was nice that the openers saw off the new ball and gave us a foundation. And Nicholls played a really good innings too, with a pulled calf muscle. It was really nice to be out there and put a few partnerships and put up a really good competitive total. Nice to finish our Test summer on a high.
Mohammad Rizwan: As captain, I take responsibility. Fielding is very important part of the Test match. If you want to win, you have to take 20 wickets. Bowlers created chances, but we didn't back them up. It's an honour to lead Pakistan. I'm disappointed that I couldn't bring a result for Pakistan and PCB. But we tried. We tried our best. We will learn a lot from this tour. We failed in all departments, but we have a series after this against South Africa in a short time and we'll look to do well against them. Congratulations to New Zealand, specially Williamson and Nicholls. But the big difference between us was Jamieson, the way he bowled.
Kyle Jamieson is Man of the Match for his 11 wickets in the match: We had to graft our way for periods at a time and I guess as a bowling unit, we were clinical. I guess, from my point of view, just sitting back and watching these guys going to work, it's a four pronged attack and I'm pretty much the fourth prong and I love learning from these guys. Not too bad. I guess those two guys have been great for New Zealand cricket and to have my name somewhere along those guys is special [Vettori and Hadlee are the only bowlers with better match figures for New Zealand]
That ends the Test summer for New Zealand. Four Test matches. Four wins. All of them showcasing extremely watchable cricket. Kane Williamson's batting has hit another level. Apparently that's possible. He came in on the back of playing T20 cricket at the IPL. He was rested from the T20s earlier so that he could concentrate on getting back his Test match rhythm. Based on 600-plus runs in three matches, he sure got back to it alright. No. 1 batsman in the format leading the No. 1 team in the format. How's that for symmetry?
New Zealand owe a lot though to their bowlers. Neil Wagner didn't let two broken toes stop him from winning a Boxing Day thriller. And now that he's out for five-six weeks, Kyle Jamieson has stepped up to take on the role of tormentor in chief. His bounce continues plays on the back of the batsmen's minds. It always makes them end up in the worst position possible while facing him. They just can't be confident coming forward to him, which makes them sitting ducks because he has such a good fuller ball. He got Mohammad Rizwan with one that was pretty much on the cards. A glorious inswinger that zipped through bat and pad and knocked over leg stump. We'll be seeing a lot more of those as his career progresses.
Zafar Gohar c Henry b Boult 37 (78m 64b 7x4 0x6) SR: 57.81
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