Trent Boult delivered a swing bowling master-class yesterday with career-best figures of five for 27 from 10 overs for the Black Caps in their Cricket World Cup clash against Australia in just his 20th one-day international.
As with most cricketing memories, it was the circumstances rather than the statistics whichmean the left-arm pace bowler's performance will be unforgettable.
In front of a baying 40,053 Eden Park crowd, he paced through a run-up reminiscent of a long jumper's, and delivered the ball consistently full enough to swing.
Glenn Maxwell (1), Mitchell Marsh (0), Michael Clarke (12), Mitchell Johnson (1) and Mitchell Starc (0) fell to his methodology, mainly because there was always enough of a question mark to suggest his deliveries might move away from the right-handers or into the left-handers rather than his stock-in-trade.
In a poetic twist, Boult was at the other end when Kane Williamson lofted the match-winning six. He had survived two balls from Starc steaming off the long run, six wickets in credit.
"I was pretty wound up [going out to bat]," Boult said. "But Kane helped me simplify it.
"This is something I'll remember for a while. A lot of confidence has been gained from that performance against the best in the world."
Boult, as always, tried to keep his bowling philosophy simple.
"It was just what I'd been doing over the last five to six months. I pitched up and tried to swing it. I got a bit of luck with a couple of drag-ons, but it was all go.
"I was pretty ecstatic. We sat in our hotel a few days ago scouting and going through their batsmen. We knew how much depth they had, so to put those [bowling] plans in place was satisfying."
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