New Zealand's stand-in captain Tom Latham praised his side's "amazing" depth as they looked to follow a series win over England with victory in next week's inaugural World Test Championship final against India.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Blackcaps hammered England by eight wickets with more than a day to spare in the second Test at Edgbaston on Sunday to seal a 1-0 success following last week's draw at Lord's.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
This was just New Zealand's third win in 18 Test series in England and their first this century after triumphs in 1986 and 1999.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A victory that saw New Zealand leapfrog India at the top of the Test standings was made all the more impressive by the fact their XI at Edgbaston featured a remarkable six changes from the team at Lord's.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Injuries ruled out captain and star batsman Kane Williamson, wicket-keeper BJ Watling, and spinner Mitchell Santner, with veteran seamer Tim Southee, towering quick Kyle Jamieson and all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme given a chance to freshen up ahead of the showpiece match against India at Southampton.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Yet the 'stand-ins' performed superbly, with paceman Matt Henry taking 6-114, including several top-order wickets in a player-of-the-match display.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But with New Zealand set to be at full-strength against India, Henry may be back on the sidelines<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"(Henry) was fantastic," Latham told a post-match press conference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Matt has been with the group for a long period and probably hasn't got the game time he would have wanted. For him to come in and put a performance on the board, that was really important, especially the work that he did yesterday (Saturday) with that new ball.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"It was amazing from a personnel change of six guys. That hasn't happened for a long time in this group and it has been a hard team to crack into.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"For all those guys to get that opportunity, (Will) Young, Henry, (Ajaz) Patel, was fantastic. They performed their roles really well."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Meanwhile, Devon Conway, who made 200 on Test debut at Lord's, was named New Zealand player of the series after adding a valuable 80 in the first innings at Edgbaston.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Latham asked how New Zealand -- a country with a population of just some five million and one where rugby's All Blacks dominate -- could produce so many Test class players, replied: "It's a mixture, one of the big things is the standard of domestic cricket that we have back home allowing players to be challenged at first-class level.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"The depth of our domestic cricket is in a really strong spot."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He also pointed to the change of approach that occurred under now-retired former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum which helped the Blackcaps go all the way to a 2015 50-over World Cup final where they were beaten by co-hosts Australia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Probably six or seven years ago, the leadership group sat down and thought we'd try to play a brand of cricket that was true to us and something that we could hold our hat on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"It came through in the World Cup in 2015 -- we try to play like Kiwis, something we hold true to this group.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Team-first mentality -- it's been a massive shift and I'm sure it will continue in the coming years."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But in the meantime, the significance of a series win in England was not lost on the 29-year-old Latham, who hit the winning boundary on Sunday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"It's a fantastic achievement from the group and I think it's important that we celebrate with each other," he insisted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"It's well documented that '99 was the last time we'd won here... I certainly remember staying up late, watching teams come over to England and playing Test cricket at Lord's and these iconic grounds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We did really well over the two Test matches and now that we've ticked them off, it's important our focus shifts to India in a couple of days."<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2021\/06\/tom-latham-confident-of-new-look-new-zealand-squad-to-do-well.jpg", "alt_img": "Cricket Image for Tom Latham Hails New Zealand's 'Amazing' Strength In Depth After England Triumph", "alt_title": "Tom Latham", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Tom Latham Hails New Zealand's 'Amazing' Strength In Depth After England Triumph On Cricketnmore", "seo_desc": " Tom Latham praised his side's \"amazing\" depth as they looked to follow a series win over England.", "seo_keywords": "New Zealand Tour Of England, Tom Latham", "tag": "", "tagging": "New Zealand Tour Of England,Tom Latham,", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "1", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "tom-latham-hails-new-zealands-amazing-strength-in-depth-after-england-triumph", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "2614", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "1", "auto_link": "1", "created": "2021-06-14 10:44:53", "updated": "2021-06-14 10:45:10", "img_from": "Image Source: AFP", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": "New Zealand, England, Tom Latham, Latham, India, World Test Championship ", "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "21", "jio_date": "2021-06-14 10:44:53", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2021-06-14 10:44:53", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/tom-latham-hails-new-zealands-amazing-strength-in-depth-after-england-triumph-77891" }