Trent Boult had his parents cheering on from the sidelines as he celebrated his 300th Test wicket. He also had an old friend inside the boundary ropes to soak in the moment with. He would go on to state, at the end of a manic day of Test cricket in Christchurch, that having Tim Southee with him made the milestone even more special.
Boult joined Southee, Daniel Vettori and Sir Richard Hadlee in an exclusive club of New Zealand cricketers to take 300 Test wickets. He would finish the day on 301 completing his ninth Test match five-fer along the way to bowl Bangladesh out for a paltry 126.
"To join him [Southee] and Daniel and Sir Richard is very special," Boult said. "I think we met towards the end of under-17s cricket. I'm always learning off him, I think he has an incredible work ethic and his record speaks for itself. That comes from a lot of hard yards and his desire to be better every day. It's always a great feeling when both of us are taking wickets and really enjoying it."
Boult and Southee were the chief orchestrators of Bangladesh's capitulation on the second day of the Christchurch Test, with the old friends splitting the four wickets that left the visitors tottering at 12/4 in reply to New Zealand's 521 for 6. The left-armer, who has the most wickets at the Hagley Oval - 53 - said the wind blowing across the ground was an important factor to his and team's success.
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"I am generally trying to pitch the ball up. Get a bit of movement in the air," Boult said. "The wicket offers a bit of bounce. It has a good grass covering. The wind is the big thing for us as a bowling unit.
It is generally left to right. It suits me and Timmy nicely, and then [Neil] Wagner and KJ [Kyle Jamieson] come in behind to do the stuff they do."
"That's the beauty of Test cricket. The little subtleties that come with different grounds, winds. The wicket obviously offers a bit of bounce with grass on it. I thought the way the boys started, to get a couple of wickets early, not really letting up on the pressure, I suppose we did what we spoke about. It is simply to get them playing on the front foot, and bowl for each other at each end. Only half the job done but it was a satisfying afternoon."
