|| CF Correspondent ||

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson credited his bowlers for helping them earn a 1-0 lead in the three-match series opener as they defeated Bangladesh by an innings and 52 runs in the opener at Hamilton on Sunday.

Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah struck centuries but it went in vain as the host had to bear the consequence of getting the most out of it as the visitors had earlier crumbled to 234 in their first innings after being put into bat while later New Zealand then shattered records to post their highest Test total of 715 for six before declaring on the third day.

“We knew coming here today would need a big push with the ball with the surface not offering much. We thought the cracks might open up a little more. We also knew that they had a lot of quality in their batting and it was nice that we stuck around,’’ said Williamson.

“I thought the bowlers were outstanding throughout the Test, there was a bit of swing, a bit of bounce which we tried to extract as much as we could. Credit to the boys for the way they bowled and pick twenty wickets,’’ he said.

Williamson also hailed the batting unit for sticking on to their job. “I suppose as a batting unit we wanted to bat long on that surface. I was fortunate to be part of a number of partnerships and to have spent time in the middle that put us in that situation. It was an outstanding opening partnership; Tom (Latham) is churning them out and for Jeet (Raval), who's made a number of contributions already, to make an extra large one helped put us in that situation,’’ said Williamson, who played the most vital part with his undefeated double hundred.