Black Caps staying grounded

After his side battered the cricket record books in Hamilton, you could easily mistake the mood of Black Caps coach Gary Stead for one of a losing coach upon arrival in Wellington yesterday.

His nonchalant manner about the historic innings and 52-run win over Bangladesh, sent the message the first test is ‘yesterday’s news’ and it is time to move forward.

So even with two tests against Bangladesh left, Stead couldn’t help take a peek ahead to the World Cup, with his squad for the one-day international tournament to be picked at the end of the series.

He was proud of his team for Hamilton’s historic win, putting them 1-0 up in the series before the second and third tests in Wellington and Christchurch.

But on arrival in the capital he quickly turned the focus to the second test starting at the Basin Reserve on Friday, while throwing generous hints that the World Cup isn’t too far in the back of his mind.

‘‘The guys will be confident,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s the start of another test match and we will be back to zero so we start again. The boys played really well and it is really encouraging.’’

While New Zealand are now second in the test rankings behind India, Stead isn’t worried they may be best suited to the five-day game, rather than its shorter forms.

‘‘I think we are trying to be strong in every format that we play. There is obviously the big carrot of the World Cup coming up as well, and we want to do well in that, and every country wants to do well. Every game we play, we just try to get better. We just try to get better every day and that’s what the team is about.’’

Captain Kane Williamson broke records of his own at Seddon Park, and also surpassed Sir Richard Hadlee as New Zealand’s highest ranked test player.

By reaching a career-best of

915 rating points, Williamson surpassed outstanding seamer Hadlee, the only other Kiwi to cross the 900-point mark with a best of 909 points.

Williamson is just seven ICC test ranking points away from the No 1 test batsman in the world, India captain Virat Kohli.

If he overtakes Kohli it will be the second time the Black Caps captain reached No 1 – the last time was in 2015.

It doesn’t stop there. Williamson became the first New Zealander to score 20 test centuries and he reached 6000 tests runs in the process, the fastest Kiwi to do so.

Williamson went on to notch his second double century in tests – his previous was the unbeaten

242 he reached against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 2015.

Again, Stead isn’t surprised about any of the above.

‘‘I don’t think it is a big surprise that Kane is as good as he is if you see how hard he works and he’s done it from a very, very young age as well.

‘‘He has an insatiable appetite to bat and to hit balls and to keep getting better with his technique.

‘‘He’s not a guy that rests on his laurels at all, and you wouldn’t be surprised [about his records] if you see his training.’’

Stead is hoping for bounce and carry in Wellington, and will be persisting with spin bowler Todd Astle for the Basin Reserve match.

‘‘He’s our No 1 [spinner] for this series and he is who we will keep carrying on with.’’