New Zealand looking for an encore to six-week roller-coaster tour of sub-continent: Latham

Mumbai:  The New Zealand cricket team has had a roller-coaster ride on this trip to the sub-continent around six weeks back. Their one-off Test against Afghanistan was washed out by rain without a ball being bowled. They then went to Sri Lanka and suffered a 0-2 thrashing by Sri Lanka.

But they hit a huge high in India, winning a Test series for the first time as they go into the third and final Test of the series starting at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham, standing in for Kane Williamson, said they have managed to revive the up-and-down tour of six Tests against three different teams because they could keep things simple and adapt to the situation and kept playing their own brand of cricket.

“Yeah, we sort of looked at it in terms of having six test matches in these parts of the World which obviously gives us a great challenge to Test ourselves to see where we’re at. I think from our point of view, it’s always been about improving and adapting as best we can. And I mentioned last week that even though the results didn’t go the way we wanted it in Sri Lanka, we did a lot of good stuff. It’s just cricket sometimes where you fall on the wrong side of the result.

“But I guess coming here, we wanted to keep things simple, play our brand of cricket as best we can and give ourselves a good chance. And I think it’s just shown us that the brand that we play, we can be successful in these conditions and it’s just trying to stick to them as best we can. And every individual has a slightly different plan in terms of how they like to go about things. And I think it’s just them giving themselves that 100% backing in terms of the way that they play, they will be successful. Yeah, it’s obviously been an up-and-down sort of six weeks. But, yeah, look, we try to keep things level as much as we can. As I said earlier, in terms of trying not to ride the rollercoaster too much, trying to be a bit more level. I think that’s held us in good stead for the last couple of weeks,” said Latham in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the third and final Test.

New Zealand surprised India in the first Test after bowling the hosts out for 46 in their first innings, their pacers adapting to the conditions well and causing collapses both with the first news ball and the second one too. In the second Test in Pune, it was their spinners, especially Mitchell Santner who claimed 7-53 and 6-104 to bring the hosts to their knees, handing them their first series defeat since 2012.

Latham said his players are not thinking too much about the clean sweep against India but rather as an opportunity to win another Test in challenging conditions.

“Yeah, look, another exciting opportunity is presented to us this week. We’ve obviously done a lot of good stuff over the last couple of weeks, but I guess for us, every test match, you know, you go in the focus of trying to, I guess, win key moments, not necessarily focusing on the result. Obviously, that’s the byproduct of putting things together back-to-back with sessions.

“So, yeah, different pitch, different conditions. It’s obviously a lot hotter out there than what we faced the last couple of weeks. So, yeah, like another really exciting opportunity and another one the guys are looking forward to.

With New Zealand hoping to gain more points to improve their position in the World Test Championship reckoning, Latham said they are taking it as a very important game.

“Yeah, I think from our point of view there’s a bigger carrot at the end in terms of the World Test Championship. So for us, every game is really important. Every game is just as important as the last. So from our point of view, it’s always about trying to put the best team out there, the best team that we believe is suited to these conditions,” said Latham.

The Black Caps captain said their pacer Matt Henry will be undergoing a fitness test and they will take a call on his availability based on that.

“So we’ve got a fitness test there with Matt Henry, So we’ll know a little bit more after training today. Harry gets through today,” he said.

Having won a Test series in India for the first time, Latham said the feedback from back home has been great.

“Yeah, we’ve felt a lot of support over here from back home. It’s been pretty special to, I guess to see the messages, to hear what people are talking about. It’s a really special occasion that’s happened over the last couple of weeks that, you know, we’ve been working hard towards for a long time and I guess to be in the position we are in is super exciting and we obviously appreciate all the support that we’ve been given back home, but also around the world too, so. But we know that’s gone now in terms of those two test matches. So our focus is sorely on tomorrow and what that presents for us,” said Latham.

–IANS