“Being out of the team for a bit and playing domestically, [I’ve been] really just trying to enjoy my cricket,” Nicholls told Sky Sports. “I certainly, in the last couple of years, feel like I’ve actually been playing my best cricket. For me as well, having played a significant number of Tests [58, before this one] knew what it takes at this level.
“I guess I had the confidence coming in here to believe in myself. I’ve done it before, but to come out here today and do it and contribute in this innings [is pleasing]… It’s obviously a great day personally, but from the team perspective, to bowl them out with the lead and then to be where we are now was exactly what we wanted at the start of the day.”
He praised the standard of domestic cricket in New Zealand and said that his ability to succeed on his return to the side after hardly playing in the last two-and-a-half years was a testament to the team’s culture.
“You’ve seen over the last probably four or five years, every player that’s come into the group, they don’t look out of place and they’re really comfortable. It’s a credit to domestic cricket, but the Black Caps environment as well.”
“There’s always external noise, but I suppose it shows the character of him and his resilience to block it out and just do what he needs to do for the team. That’s something he puts a lot of pride into – [doing] what the team needs – and he surely did that today.”
Nicholls suggested that, counterintuitively, replacing a great like Williamson took the pressure off him, in that he was never likely to replicate his output.
“I certainly knew when I was coming in for him, I wasn’t going to be able to replace him,” he explained. “He’s just such an incredible player, but I just really enjoyed being back in the team – and even in the first innings, enjoyed being back in Test-match cricket.
“In the second innings, I just wanted to try to replicate that, and you want to contribute, and you want to do all of these things. But it was just building a partnership with Rachin [Ravindra] and even Daz [Daryl Mitchell] at the end there.”
“I have plenty of faith in the medical team, and thankfully we had that bit of a window just to try settle the body down,” Henry said. “As always, there’s a bit of nerves when you’re coming back from something like that… Knowing that it was going to be a really good surface out here, you’re going to have to be able to keep coming in, so it’s great that [the body] is doing alright so far.”
