New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson dedicated his maiden T20I five-fer playing against the West Indies on Friday (November 27) in Auckland to his grandmother, who passed away at the end of October. 

There's a reason why the right-arm quick was wearing jersey No.26 as opposed to his usual No.87. It was in honour of his grandmother, Dawn Hammond, as Ferguson wore the date of her birth on his back. 

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The tribute was especially closer to the bowler's heart with him unable to attend her funeral due to IPL 2020 commitments with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the quarantine regulations which wouldn't have allowed Ferguson to make a quick visit and return to UAE back then. 

"She used to knot herself up watching cricket," the 29-year-old was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz after his 5/21 helped the Kiwis win by 5 wickets and go 1-0 up in the three-match series. 

"She absolutely loved following all cricket, but of course the Black Caps, so it was pretty special to have a good day out with her looking down on us."

Ferguson's outstanding spell that saw West Indies collapse from 58/0 to 59/5 should've been enough to end the contest there itself. But the visitors managed to recover and post a daunting 180/7 in the first half. 

This made Ferguson assess that his team's bowling attack still have a lot of work to do in the build-up to the next year's T20 World Cup. 

"Eden Park is one of those great grounds – we've played quite a lot here and some days you bowl OK and don't get a lot of luck and other days you get that luck."

"Certainly we have to look at our plans again. We were probably a little but rusty, but obviously when it's such a small boundary and a very quick wicket and a good wicket, then you're going to get hit if you miss."

"When you have a West Indies side with so much power throughout their whole lineup, they're all looking to hit sixes, so we need to make sure that we go back to our plans, reassess and work out what our plans are going forward."

Head coach Gary Stead was all praise for Ferguson's skill and mental aptitude as he had finished his necessary isolation only a day before the series opener. 

“The first time I saw Lockie, was five o'clock last night, a couple of hours before the game," he said. "To me, it's a real credit to our staff and the planning that went in behind the scenes."

"We give the guys the plans that we think are right and we have discussions with them up to a week out from the first game and I think [bowling coach] Shane Jurgensen has done an excellent job with Lockie there, getting him ready."