New Zealand's Trent Boult walks to take his fielding position during the Cricket World Cup warm up match between India and New Zealand at The Oval in London. Photo / AP
New Zealand's Trent Boult walks to take his fielding position during the Cricket World Cup warm up match between India and New Zealand at The Oval in London. Photo / AP
By Andrew Alderson in Taunton
Once deemed a "red-ball specialist", Trent Boult has become the pivotal bowler for New Zealand at this World Cup.
No Black Cap strikes fear into opposition batting orders like when the left-armer launches into his rhythmic run-up.
Boult's swing has the capability to catapult thenational side into the tournament reckoning, as he did in 2015 with 22 wickets at 16.86 alongside Australia's Mitchell Starc. The pursuit of movement can be capricious, but his early forays against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - two for 44 and one for 44 respectively - offered promise. The West Indies and India also got some hooping Boult medicine with four-wicket bags in the warm-ups.
With his spearhead status assured, Boult has made the transition from cautious participant to relaxed company as an interviewee.
Media are ushered into a semi-circle of comfy chairs around him in a "fireside chat" arrangement, except there's no fire and our voices are echoing around The Oval's indoor nets. Still, it's convivial.
Boult had just discovered he was the second fastest bowler to 150 wickets in one-day internationals, taking 81 matches compared to the 78 of Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq. It's a fine achievement, albeit both were relegated to second and third when Starc reached the mark in his 77th match the following day against the West Indies at Nottingham.
"It was nice to come off the field and get the tap on the back and recognised a little bit in the hutch," Boult says.
New Zealand's Trent Boult appeals successfully for the wicket of India's Rohit Sharma during the Cricket World Cup warm up match between India and New Zealand at The Oval in London. Photo / AP
"It's nice to be up there with some quality bowlers."
His reaction is quintessential "self-deprecating New Zealander". A feat which places him among the game's elite is defused with the use of a vanilla "nice". The reference to "a little bit" suggests his place in the overall scheme of cricketing life is not overestimated.
Sure, Boult can be as alpha as the next fast bowler in his pomp, but he's no mustachioed Dennis Lillee charging in with chains a-dangling and shirt unbuttoned to the navel.
He's asked if it bothers him that his name seldom features in conversations – at least outside New Zealand - about the world's best.
"You can talk about me if you want," he quips.
"I don't really care, to be honest. I just want to win games for New Zealand and enjoy those moments playing cricket for my country and everything the team stands for.
"I'm not too bothered if I'm in the news, but I love going out there swinging the ball around and trying to get guys out."
New Zealand's Trent Boult walks to take his fielding position during the Cricket World Cup warm up match between India and New Zealand at The Oval in London. Photo / AP
That response reflects a sense of perspective after a decade in the international game.
Boult debuted for New Zealand as a 19-year-old in a List A match against an Australian Prime Minister's XI in Canberra. A couple of injury blips later and he has been a fixture in the test side from 2011 – with a win on debut in Hobart – and the ODI side from the 2014-15 summer.
Boult turns 30 next month, welcomed the arrival of his first-born, a son with wife Gert, last year, and has presumably made himself financially secure in the Bay of Plenty with talents that are in demand across the Twenty20 franchise world.
He's also built up enough self-deprecation and maturity to suggest there's more to life than swinging a cricket ball. Such experience should be a welcome tonic to New Zealand's cause as the pressure builds in the coming weeks.
