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WTC win meant a lot to us says retired wicket-keeper batsman BJ Watling

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Former New Zealand wicket-keeper batsman BJ Watling played his farewell Test against India in the ICC World Test Championship Final and what better way to bid adieu to international cricket with a word title under his belt. The Blackcaps thrashed the most successful team in the two years WTC cycle by 8 wickets to win their second ICC title after a wait for more than two decades.

Watling who played an influential role in reinventing New Zealand’s lost ground in the traditional format ended his Test career with 75 Tests and 3790 runs in his career. He played quite a few stellar knocks for the national team and remained a rock behind the wickets since making his Test debut back in 2009. Having started his career as an opener, Watling finished as the most capped wicket-keeper batsman from the country. 

Reflecting on a historic moment in Southampton earlier this week, Watling said that without a shade of doubt the WTC win meant a lot to the New Zealanders. Watling battled pain in his final Test and decided to carry on his keeping duties despite dislocating his finger. 

"You could see that it meant a lot to the New Zealanders. You could kind of see the smiles on their faces underneath their masks and that everyone seemed to be pretty excited that we had managed to bring it home,” Watling was quoted as saying by Stuff.co.nz.

Over the last few years, New Zealand have become one of the finest Test sides across the world and Watling played a substantial role in the transformation. Watling was asked to present the caps to the players ahead of the WTC final as it was his farewell game. Even Indian skipper Virat Kohli paid a tribute to him while coming out to bat on the final day of the Test match. 

"It just talks about teamwork and what it means to be involved in a team and that it's not just the team, it's about everyone involved. We have a fantastic group of support staff and players and in this competition, the way it's worked out, there's been a number of players that have played games over the two-year period that weren't actually there, so it sort of just alluded to things like that,” Watling said. 

Tom Blundell who has been around the New Zealand Test circuit for a while now will replace Watling in the Test XI and Watling has high hopes from the swashbuckling stumper. 

"I think we all know Tom is prepared and ready to go. He's already scored two fantastic hundreds and in the game that he played against England over here, his keeping was excellent. 

"It's not easy over here with the Duke ball moving around, and he did an outstanding job and took some excellent catches. I have full faith in Tom. I think he's hungry, and he's ready to go,” Watling concluded. 



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