Freshened-up Wagner raring to go
‘‘I’m highly motivated by what the guys have been doing as a one-day team and how they’ve made the country proud and hopefully we can keep doing that with the test side as well.’’
The 33-year-old has 174 test wickets at 27.51, with a strike-rate of 52.6. That makes him New Zealand’s seventh-most prolific test wicket-taker and only Sir Richard Hadlee has a better strike-rate among Kiwi bowlers to have taken more than 100 test wickets.
Wagner played a key role in New Zealand’s first-test win against Pakistan in their last overseas test series, taking 2-27 in Pakistan’s second innings. He helped spark their collapse when he softened up Asad Shafiq with a string of short balls then had him caught behind from a full one with Pakistan 130-3 chasing 176 to win.
After going wicket-less in the heavy second-test defeat, Wagner was omitted from the series decider the Black Caps won but was a dominant figure in the two home test series last summer.
He took 22 wickets in four games, including match figures of 7-151 in Hamilton versus Bangladesh and followed that up with 9-73 against the same opposition in Wellington.
The left-armer isn’t part of New Zealand’s white-ball game and had to watch the World Cup final with gritted teeth.
‘‘It was tough and exciting – a lot of emotions.
‘‘As a fan, really proud of what the guys have achieved; as a player, hard, because you want to be out there and with the guys.’’
But Wagner said the defeat will give the Black Caps the motivation to get back to Lord’s as one of the finalists in the World Test Championship showdown in June 2021.
‘‘The motivation to play a test final at Lord’s – I think that’s the pinnacle of cricket. I’m fully confident in our group that we’ve got what it takes.’’