Knew Anderson had hit it and luckily it went straight into my gloves: Tom Blundell

Wellington, March 1 (IANS) New Zealand’s wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell admitted he knew the second Test match against England at the Basin Reserve was over as soon as the ball hit his gloves off James Anderson to decide a thrilling one-run victory for the hosts.

Blundell performed superbly throughout the second Test, making 38 and 90 in both innings while conceding zero byes and taking four catches, including the all-important wicket of James Anderson to give New Zealand an unforgettable victory by defending 210 runs on the final day and square the two-game series 1-1.

“Yeah I did (know), as soon as he sort of went passed the bat I sort of knew he’d hit it and luckily it went straight into my gloves. I had to take another little look up to the umpire just to make sure that he was going to give it and then once I saw that finger up it was a pretty special feeling knowing that we pulled off something pretty remarkable,” he said on SENZ Mornings show.

Blundell also revealed that he was inspired by England wicketkeeper Ben Foakes’ ploy to stand behind the wickets to pace, which he felt took him by surprise. But at the same time, he added that it was a challenge he enjoyed taking up.

“It was sort of unexpected to be honest. At the start of the day yesterday I wasn’t initially … you know, there was no chat spoken about coming up to the stumps. I think it was Timmy (captain Tim Southee), he said, ‘Do you want to come up?,’ and I think it was to Ollie Pope who obviously loves to get down the wicket early and then it sort of grew from there.”

“For me, for keepers, you want to be in the action, you want to be challenging yourself but in New Zealand, keepers don’t really stand up to the stumps too much but yeah it was a great challenge and something that I really enjoyed.”

New Zealand’s next assignment in Test cricket will be against Sri Lanka, with the first Test happening from March 9-13 at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

–IANS

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