“I feel like I’m a different bowler definitely when it swings,” said Trent Boult, master of swing and understatement, after taking 5-21 in an unbroken 10-over spell in New Zealand’s fourth ODI against India.
In humid conditions at Seddon Park, Hamilton, on Thursday, January 31, Boult got the ball to move both ways. Combining with Colin de Grandhomme, who picked up three wickets in another unbroken spell, he helped bowl out India for 92 – their second-lowest total against New Zealand and their seventh-lowest overall – and matched Richard Hadlee’s national ODI record for most five-fors (five).
The visitors, who had dominated in the three matches so far, were bundled out in 30.5 overs. At 40/7 at one stage, they were in danger of falling short of their lowest ever ODI total of 54.
Trent Boult sums up the fourth ODI at Seddon Park. Highlights + Scorecard | https://t.co/GB9AZdmmkL #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/FqMU1rYRxk
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) January 31, 2019
Boult, who had begun his spell smiling after Kane Williamson chose to field first, was a satisfied camper with a wide grin by the end of the quick eight-wicket win. The left-arm pacer, however, said he hadn’t expected the surface to play as it did, imagining it to be “pretty dry and actually quite slow”.
“No wind was key for me,” he said. “And chuck [temperatures of] 30° on top of it, it’s going to move around a little bit.”
“It’s a pretty unique thing to bowl 10 overs on the bounce,” he admitted. “But [it’s] just one of those things. The rhythm felt good. The ball was still swinging later in the spell, so it was about making the most of it.
“It’s purely a conditions thing … It was nice to see the ball move in the air like that. I feel like I am a different bowler definitely when it swings. I made the most of it today.”
