Can't say I'm not a bit disappointed with the approach. The pitch was good and we were chasing 5 an over, not 8 an over. The miss against the West Indies and our historical inability to understand the difference between calculated aggression and brainless slogging, but it would have been nice if the top order had at least shown some intent. We have a relatively long batting order, so even if we had lost the top 3 cheaply, the others could have bogged down and ensured a draw. Yes, it's a Test match and yes, victories like this are unheard of, but the truth is chances like this are the best we'll likely get to win Test matches in the short term. When the team ranked above us is thrashing us and beating stronger sides, we need to take these chances unless we want to remain at the bottom of the table.
But instead, we saw a selfish top order playing to secure its place in the second Test. Shak had to come and show them how it's done.
But overall, this was a good game for us. Given another day or two, we would have bowled NZ out and won the match, so it's fair to say we dominated. It wasn't one of those drawn matches where you feel relieved that you ran out of time, but rather one that leaves you wondering what could have been and ruing the fact that this isn't the 18th century, when games were timeless.
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