New Zealand have a chance of securing the top spot in Test cricket when they take on Sri Lanka in a two-match series from August 14, exactly a month after their cruel World Cup defeat to England. New Zealand, with 109 points in Test cricket, are ranked behind India on 113 points, but a 2-0 series win in Sri Lanka will see the Kiwis leapfrog the Asian heavyweights. Test rankings have added relevance with the new, two-year ICC World Test Championship now under way, culminating in a 2021 final at Lord's between the top two teams. Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson sees the Test series vs Sri Lanka as a fresh challenge. Williamson his backing his bowlers to do the job. Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel claimed five wickets in the warm-up game in Negombo and he is likely to be the second spinner to leggie Todd Astle. (Video courtesy: NZC)
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00:00 mind for the gold test?
00:04 I guess that's sort of an unknown really. We haven't really seen the surface. The sort
00:12 of 10 or 12 days that we've been here, about 8 of them have been rained out. So it's just
00:17 one of those things that you just have to get your head around and try and prepare mentally
00:20 as best you can and look forward to the first test starting tomorrow and all the guys are
00:24 really excited to get the test championship underway.
00:27 Clips came tomorrow, 14th of August, it'll be one month since the World Cup final. You
00:34 can go back in time and change a couple of things. What would they be?
00:40 Change a couple of things? I haven't really thought too much about that. It's been great
00:45 really to look forward to this, the start of the test championship, coming away again
00:51 as a group, albeit a different squad being the test format. But the guys have really
00:58 been enjoying their time together back in camp after having a week off after the World
01:02 Cup.
01:03 How would you look at the test championship rather than looking at the conventional test
01:12 series?
01:13 Sorry?
01:14 How would you look at the test championship rather than being part of the conventional
01:20 test series?
01:21 I think it's a welcome addition to the test format, bringing that context into every test
01:31 match that you play. No matter what, every time you play against any team at any level
01:39 it's very, very competitive. But now there's that added carrot where in two years' time
01:45 everybody's fighting for an opportunity to play in a test championship final, which would
01:50 be a really exciting thing to be a part of. But between now and that potential outcome
01:57 there's so much test cricket to be played and the focus for us is definitely one game
02:03 at a time or one session at a time. We're up for a really tough challenge here in Sri
02:08 Lanka against a strong side.
02:09 There's a possibility that if New Zealand win the series 2-0 that you'll go up to number
02:10 one in the ICC rankings. How exciting is that?
02:22 If that happens that would be great. But I guess there's a bigger picture. The thing
02:27 with rankings is they sort of just fluctuate throughout a season and are purely a reaction
02:34 to perhaps the cricket that you're playing. So for us we just want to be focusing on the
02:39 cricket that's important to us to give ourselves the best chance of success. And like I say
02:43 we're looking forward to the challenge here in Sri Lanka, which is obviously changing
02:47 conditions and obviously the home team knows them very well. But the guys are very excited
02:52 at that opportunity.
02:53 You've got Bolton Salvi as your very good fast bowler, as Wagner has done well at time
02:54 in Asia as well. On top of that last year you had some success with Spinners in the
02:55 UAE. Do you feel like you've brought maybe, is this the strongest sort of attack that
03:12 you've brought to Asia? Do you feel like that's the case?
03:17 I mean there's a lot of experience in the scene bowling department which is always a
03:22 good thing to have, albeit over here often the majority of overs are from spin bowlers.
03:28 And the guys that are here are part of a fantastic series in the UAE where spin bowling was obviously
03:35 the dominant art. And they're really looking forward to the opportunity here in another
03:41 country which the conditions will be slightly different again to take on that challenge.
03:44 They're still fairly new to the international arena, a lot of those spinners in this format.
03:51 But at the same time like I say they're quality bowlers and they're looking forward to the
03:56 challenge to bowl at a strong side in these conditions but hopefully get a bit of assistance
04:00 off the surfaces too.