After his team’s 3-0 whitewash at the hands of England, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson on Monday (June 27) praised the hosts for their brilliant counterattack in the third and final Test.
Chasing 296 in the last final innings, England rode on powerful knocks from Joe Root (86*), Ollie Pope (82), and Jonny Bairstow (71*) to reach the target in 54.2 overs with seven wickets in hand.
"It's been an incredible series, in all three matches we have had our opportunities. Credit to the way the English team played. Whenever they were put under pressure, they chose to counterattack and they certainly did that very well no better than this match in particular where we were in a fairly strong position. All in all, a great series," said Williamson after the final Test ended.
"For us, there are a lot of positives, it's a matter of regrouping and looking ahead. They counter-attacked and that's a new thing to their approach and they certainly did that extremely well. They were good in all areas. It was a highly competitive series and they won the fine margins and fine moments which spun the momentum and perhaps the outcome of the match. No doubt they'll try to build on that and move forward as a side," he added.
The Kiwi skipper further said he thought that the seamers would play an important role in the match as the team was opting for a good balance.
"We sort of opted for the balance, we looked at the surface and were curious how it'd break out. We felt the seamers would play a major role. We saw the ball seaming even today. For us it was frustrating that even with 300 on the board, it still wasn't the easiest surface to bat on," said Williamson.
England’s new era under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum started with a clean sweep over New Zealand. They displayed a staggering performance in all departments and it was a collective effort from the whole side to register their first series win under a new skipper and coach.
Stokes and company played an attacking brand of cricket and pulled off incredible chases in all three games.
England will now take on India in a rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston from July 1.
(With ANI inputs)
