Black Caps good enough to beat any team, says Boult

BIRMINGHAM: Trent Boult was over the moon after playing a key role in New Zealand’s shock 18-run triumph against India in the first World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Together with Matt Henry, Boult upset India’s applecart with a highly impressive spell of fast bowling with the new ball that left India’s potent batting line-up on its knees at 24-4.

“It was mayhem out there with the new ball, it was a dream start for us and great fun to be a part of,” said Boult, who got the prized scalp of Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli for just 1.

“We knew our best balls are good enough for anyone, so it was nice to get the ball moving around and really put the pressure on them,” added Boult, who now has 17 wickets in the World Cup.

“They absorbed the pressure nicely and anything can happen with Dhoni and Jadeja at the crease, so it’s just nice to come out on the right side. “We’re just excited about playing in a World Cup final at Lord’s - it doesn’t get bigger than that and whoever we play, we’ll just enjoy it.

“I think we are good enough to beat anyone. Every side is stacked with good players but we can wait to be out there on the big dance, this means everything to the side.” Henry, who finished with match-winning figures of 3-37 including the wicket of dangerman Rohit Sharma, said that New Zealand wanted to put India under early pressure.

“Semi-finals are a special opportunity. We knew it would be tough for them if we took early wickets and that gave us the platform we needed,” he said. “We wanted to get on top and put them under pressure. India have a world-class batting line-up and to break that opening partnership was huge. They bat a long way down and we were the work wasn’t done after the first ten overs. We knew they would establish a partnership and we had to control the run rate.

“We’ve been faced with so many challenges through this tournament, we just had to focus on our brand of cricket and trust the match winners we have in our dressing room. Whatever happened in the past didn’t really matter. “This is up right there for me, coming into a semi-final and coming out on the right side of a tight match is always going to be tough to beat,” he said.