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Speaker 2: Test Week and the news keeps getting better, positive progress
Speaker 2: following the command and victory over Ireland in Belfa. Hello,
Speaker 2: an extra edition of On the Front Foot. As we
Speaker 2: hear from black Caps coach Rob Walter. On arrival in
Speaker 2: London for the Lord's Test, he was greeting with views
Speaker 2: that Mitt Santner is fits and able to join the team. Rob,
Speaker 2: Is that an indication that you're playing the test?
Speaker 3: Ah?
Speaker 4: Not not necessarily, just obviously happy that he's turning his
Speaker 4: fitness around so quickly, setting a lot quicker than we expected,
Speaker 4: which is awesome. It's off to him has worked incredibly
Speaker 4: hard along the staff, so yeah, just great that he
Speaker 4: could join the squad again.
Speaker 2: What are the positives you take out of the performance
Speaker 2: in Belfast.
Speaker 4: Oh look, I mean obviously there's a numbers a number
Speaker 4: of them, a number of individual performances, but also collectively,
Speaker 4: you know, sort of to come out of the back
Speaker 4: end of our season and I've had a lot of
Speaker 4: long format cricket for the group, a bit of downtime
Speaker 4: from the end of the season and then into a
Speaker 4: couple of weeks of prep and straight into a Test match.
Speaker 4: So to sort of find our test match rhythm relatively
Speaker 4: quickly after a bit of a shaky start, within an
Speaker 4: amazing partnership between Rutchend and Tom and then followed by Dean.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it was great to see us sort of
Speaker 4: respond to those conditions pretty quickly. And then from a
Speaker 4: bowling point of view, obviously the entire unit tho bold
Speaker 4: better and better as the Test went on. It was
Speaker 4: a very good test pitch, I thought, and the guys
Speaker 4: who were able to sort of manage the Duke's ball
Speaker 4: wind was new and then when it gets a bit
Speaker 4: older and softer, it was a bit more of a challenge.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I thought we did. I thought we did
Speaker 4: well as a as a unit, as I said, and
Speaker 4: Bold in Partnerships, which is the name of the game
Speaker 4: really in the longer format, so it's pretty happy. And
Speaker 4: then I thought the fielding in the second the second
Speaker 4: endings was outstanding. So yeah, a lot of a lot
Speaker 4: of positives from a team point of view, and then
Speaker 4: obviously individually Time and Rautchen and Dean from a batting
Speaker 4: point of view, and then Nathan and Blair as individuals.
Speaker 4: But the whole boiling unit, I thought it worked well,
Speaker 4: excellently well together. To see Ben's hears back in whites
Speaker 4: again and you know, running in them by well, I
Speaker 4: thought he improved as a test went on. So yeah,
Speaker 4: lots of little positives, but collectively of a nice strong performance.
Speaker 2: Right, you're in test made for Lords.
Speaker 5: Now have you done your intel?
Speaker 2: I'll presume you've done your intel on the Lord's track
Speaker 2: with what you're likely to expect how it's playing this year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, obviously we have. We had a group
Speaker 4: we haven't been to the ground, so we had a
Speaker 4: bowling unit come to Lords a little bit earlier to
Speaker 4: start their prep and they've had eyes on the pitch.
Speaker 4: There's a bit of a bit of weather around. We'll
Speaker 4: see how sort of that impacts the pitch develops over
Speaker 4: the next three days. It brand oed incredibly quickly in
Speaker 4: Ireland with a sort of unseasonal heat there, so we'll
Speaker 4: see what happens from a lord's point of view. But
Speaker 4: there's obviously a lot of historical information with lords. There's
Speaker 4: been a couple of first class games already there this year.
Speaker 4: It's been very hot obviously in the UK so far,
Speaker 4: not as hot as the lead up to the Test match.
Speaker 4: So but all things being equal, there's enough information there
Speaker 4: to understand would be most likely to face on.
Speaker 2: Top of the center and news Rob, You'll be encouraged
Speaker 2: by the fitness past bowler Matt Henry is showing in
Speaker 2: the pretest build up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's he's all good. He bowled today while we
Speaker 4: were traveling, being in London already, so they all, you know,
Speaker 4: all things point to being one hundred percent foot and ready,
Speaker 4: and I.
Speaker 2: Suppose encourage too. I guess that you have a fully
Speaker 2: fit pace attack with Irourke and Jamison back to full fitness.
Speaker 4: I know we've got every intention of having all our
Speaker 4: fast bowlers fit, firing and ready for the first Test
Speaker 4: for selection, so certainly not looking to manage anyone for
Speaker 4: Game one to.
Speaker 2: Enter the scene's role Nathan Smith has done enough to
Speaker 2: secure the number eight batting all around the slot.
Speaker 4: No again, I suppose no secrets and the fact that
Speaker 4: for me, number eight needs to be an around who
Speaker 4: can bat and so Nathan has been that guy prior
Speaker 4: to getting injured. So you know, if he's fully fit
Speaker 4: and firing, then you know he owns that spot for now.
Speaker 2: And of course in Belfast, Tom Blundell reaffirmed his keeping
Speaker 2: role after he copt some criticism towards the end of
Speaker 2: the last series against the West Indies.
Speaker 4: To be honest, and I'm obviously just very happy for him.
Speaker 4: I think towards the back end of the season, as
Speaker 4: I've already said that in the media, is you could
Speaker 4: see that he was finding his best form, specifically the
Speaker 4: way that he was playing very true to himself and
Speaker 4: you know, a nice positive brand of cricket, but also
Speaker 4: you know, being smart about it. So he played two
Speaker 4: very contrasting in his the back end of the plunket
Speaker 4: shield on two very different surfaces and for me, just
Speaker 4: seeing him being able to adapt to both those surfaces
Speaker 4: and play that way, you know, just reaffirmed the type
Speaker 4: of player.
Speaker 5: That I know he is.
Speaker 4: And so it kind of knew that the score was
Speaker 4: not fire away and you know, to be honest, when
Speaker 4: he got injured in the Test series in December, you know,
Speaker 4: even in that twenty runs eighty scored, he's looking outstanding.
Speaker 4: So and then he obviously did his hamstring, which was unfortunate.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it was just a matter of when it
Speaker 4: was going to happen for Tom. Obviously glad that it
Speaker 4: happened now, and I know that'll give him great confidence,
Speaker 4: you know, just in his game and his method.
Speaker 2: Having a fully fit pace attack is a great starting
Speaker 2: point for a Test where it seemed past bowling will
Speaker 2: be a dominant feature. As Ratch and Revendra said prior
Speaker 2: to the tour, it's good to have the trio they've got.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think we have had a few
Speaker 3: injuries last summer and it's going to be super exciting
Speaker 3: to have those boys back. Obviously Matt Henry, who missed
Speaker 3: the last couple of tests Blood Technic was bowling so well,
Speaker 3: and the big man Will of Rock. I mean, there's
Speaker 3: a lot more tollers I could list down in Nathan
Speaker 3: Smith's coming back. Ben Sears is foot. We've got a
Speaker 3: serious paste battery, which I'm excited in the nets, gives
Speaker 3: us serious series tests. But you know, I remember will
Speaker 3: I Rock the way he was bowling against England as
Speaker 3: the last Test series he played Oh the bubwe actually.
Speaker 5: But the way he was boling was fantastic.
Speaker 3: So I'm looking forward to seeing him back on the
Speaker 3: park again and truly exciting time for I guess New
Speaker 3: Zealand cricket and it's it's fast by and battery because
Speaker 3: we've we've got so much depth at them.
Speaker 2: What about your spin bowling? Have you been working on
Speaker 2: that because there may well be opportunities for you and
Speaker 2: the Test series over there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, good question or always interesting with my bowling, I
Speaker 3: think sometimes it tends to take a back seat, but yeah,
Speaker 3: I've definitely been trying to do a little bit more
Speaker 3: of that. Obviously, had had some opportunity to twenty World
Speaker 3: Cut which was cool and on some occasional sporting wickets
Speaker 3: and that was nice to get some ozon.
Speaker 5: But obviously we know.
Speaker 3: Test cricket's a different beast so with a different ball,
Speaker 3: and I'm trying to be a bit more so consistent,
Speaker 3: so I'll be I'll be working on that and trying
Speaker 3: to tough when I can.
Speaker 2: Do you have to perhaps ignore what happened last time
Speaker 2: New Zealand was over there three nil beaten by England
Speaker 2: in the Test series because you've got million of the
Speaker 2: same players still going over for the two Test series.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the beauty of things like that is
Speaker 3: will be four years ago now really, so I guess
Speaker 3: that a little bit has changed and in terms of
Speaker 3: they're set up and ours too, But look there, they're
Speaker 3: a quality side whenever and we know how good they
Speaker 3: are and test cricket and the way they play. So
Speaker 3: for us it's going back and seeing what we potentially
Speaker 3: did wrong and what we could, you know, do right.
Speaker 3: But again they played some amazing cricket during a stage
Speaker 3: and you know, teams allowed to play.
Speaker 2: Well on the front foot. Will be following the action.
Speaker 2: Jeremy Coney's on site broadcasting the three Tests with the
Speaker 2: BBC Test Match Special Team. We look forward to hearing
Speaker 2: from Jerry and those disabled to speak to following the
Speaker 2: tests and hopefully a series win for the Black Beats.
Speaker 5: Cheers for more from News Talks.
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