Colin Munro knew he needed to make a mark early on at this year’s ICC Cricket World Cup – and now the hard-hitting left hander insists New Zealand are ready to shine after a ‘perfect’ opening performance.
Munro came in at the top of the order for the Black Caps in Cardiff on Saturday and fired an unbeaten half century alongside Martin Guptill as they made light work of Sri Lanka’s total of 136.
A 10-wicket win was just what the doctor ordered for the Black Caps and for Munro – who got his chance with Henry Nicholls ruled out through injury.
This was only his second half century in his last 18 ODIs – a run that stretches back to January of last year.
And the 32-year-old was delighted to end his lean patch and help his side to a victory on the biggest stage of all.
“It was pretty much a perfect performance! But we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We have still got eight games to go and have got to win as many of them as we can,” he said.
“But we will take this one, we have played really well. We know if we can get off to a good start then that bodes well.
“I have made a few little adjustments to my technique which seemed to work and hopefully will do moving forward as well.
“For me it is about taking every opportunity as I can. I didn’t have a great summer at home in one day cricket so to get the opportunity now and to do well, I am not going to lie I am very pleased.
“What makes me strive harder is to try and get better and better, whether I am playing or not.
“The old cliché maybe, but we are a good bunch of mates and whoever is doing well for the team, as long as they put their best foot forward then it doesn’t really matter who is out there.”
In truth, the damage was done by the bowlers in knocking over Sri Lanka for the lowest ever ODI score on this ground.
Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson were the main contributors with three wickets apiece, but every bowler who chanced his arm claimed a scalp in the victory.
But with Bangladesh up next for the Black Caps – Munro was most impressed by his side’s display in the field.
“It started with the toss, it was a good one to win, and then we bowled well from the start, we put the ball in the right areas,” he added.
“And we fielded well, we took some good catches. I think the way we fielded was probably the most pleasing thing as a group.
“Sometimes you can just coast through in those games when you are getting wickets throughout. But we stayed positive, we stayed hungry.
“I thought par score was probably 240 or 250, but I don’t think we would have had to go too hard to get there."
The next BLACKCAPS match vs Bangladesh starts at 12:30am (NZT) on June 6.
