Cricket: Boult joins elite club but focuses on test

Trent Boult picked up his 100th test scalp on the second day against Sri Lanka. Photo / Getty

Milestone achieved, now moving on.

Trent Boult admitted he was chuffed to complete his 100 test wickets at Hagley Oval yesterday but there's a test to be won.

He didn't mess about, either, removing Dimuth Karunaratne with his fourth ball of the day to join 12 other New Zealand bowlers to have reached that particular century. He did it in his 29th test, the third-equal fastest behind Sir Richard Hadlee (25 tests) and Bruce Taylor (27).

"It definitely meant a lot to me," the left arm swing bowler said last night.

"It just was not really the focus of my test match. I just wanted to go out there and do what I did, for it to happen early, and to get it done is something brilliant.

"There are bigger fish at play here. It's a great opportunity to win a test match in New Zealand and we all know what a great feeling that is."

Rolling Sri Lanka for 138 set New Zealand up to push on for a fifth test win in nine matches this year.

"That first innings was something pretty special and it just seemed to all happen against a quality side. It was brilliant."

New Zealand didn't achieve the same success second time around, with Sri Lankan openers Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva making it to 84 without loss by stumps.

Boult gave Sri Lanka's openers a pat on the back, too.

"The ball still swung about and occasionally beat the bat, but Karunaratne and Silva battled hard and got a good result.

"They did it pretty nicely. A lot of credit is due to them for doing what they did."

Boult sees today as being about discipline and sticking to plans but cautioned against trying to "search" too much and thinking "it's all going to happen like it did early today".

"The likes of building pressure and keeping it pretty simple," he surmised. "Just looking for that variation out of the wicket is going to be key. It's looking for that assistance, swinging the ball, and from the wicket. Not too much changes."