Trent Boult’s dental drama on debut

Trent Boult was 22, a fresh-faced lad from Tauranga with braces on his teeth, when he was picked for a potential test cricket debut for the Black Caps in Australia.

Now the team’s pace spearhead, Boult recalls his memorable first test appearance in Hobart in 2011 on a Black Caps podcast with team-mate Kyle Jamieson.

Boult got his teeth sorted before flying to Australia, then when he was picked to play in the second test had to endure a traditional Aussie welcome when walking out to bat.

‘‘I had braces the week before I got selected and I remember going to the orthodontist and saying: ‘I can’t go to Australia with a set of braces on my teeth’,’’ Boult told the podcast on the Black Caps’ YouTube channel.

‘‘I specifically remember it, I walked out there to bat absolutely packing myself and Brad Haddin looked at me and goes ‘mate, does your mother know where you are?’.

‘‘He was just getting into me, and I was s--ting myself... [but] I remember the celebrations after that, winning by six runs.’’

Boult was a late inclusion for an injured Daniel Vettori in an all-seam attack for New Zealand who were hammered in the first test in Brisbane.

On a Hobart greentop the Black Caps closed out a pulsating victory, with Doug Bracewell snaring a six-wicket haul. It remains their most recent victory against Australia across the Tasman, in any format.

Boult now has 267 wickets from 67 tests, fourth on New Zealand’s all-time list behind Sir Richard Hadlee (431), Vettori (361) and Tim Southee (284).