Brendon McCullum pleased with young T20 side – Cricket News Update
Despite losing the three-match T20 series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LRPL-Taylor-c1849.
Losing the first game at Durban by 8 wickets, the Black Caps bounced back in the second fixture to keep the tournament in check. Winning at East London courtesy http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Guptill-c1980 (who completed his century on the final ball of the innings), lifted the spirits
of the young Kiwi side which entered Port Elizabeth eyeing a series win.
However, losing the final game at St George's Park by 33-runs following the absence of their prime-bowler, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DL-Vettori-c1384, McCullum was still happy with the way the young side responded.
“The introduction of the new guys, playing in front of big crowds, is a positive. We have seen some good performances from the new guys, especially http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mitchell-McClenaghan-c1975, and it is encouraging. Although, we didn't get the results, we took significant strides
in the series. The key thing is to continue to build the team inside out. We saw some guys step up, and they would now know what's required in international cricket. Progression of where we were a couple of weeks ago and where we are now, it's good,” shared
the skipper.
Coming into the final game, the Black Caps were confident of their batting, having Guptill back in the side and in good form (in the second game after recovering from illness and missing the first clash). Nonetheless, losing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RJ-Nicol-c2331, Martin Guptill and
skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BB-McCullum-c1129 early, chasing South Africa’s 179, was too big a blow for the Kiwis to recover from.
Following the captaincy controversy and losing Ross Taylor (who withdrew himself from the entire South Africa tour after having a dispute with Coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mike-J-Hesson-c76286 over the transfer of Captaincy to McCullum) right before the start of the tour, the Kiwis were
still able to provide their fans an impressive show throughout the tournament.
New Zealand is now scheduled to play 2 Tests against the top ranked side, starting January 2 in Cape Town. Winning the second Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in their previous outing, the Kiwis will be hopeful of giving the Proteas a tough time.
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