New Zealand captain Kane Williamson credited his bowlers for the 2-0 series win against West Indies on what he described as pitches where wickets were hard to come by. Left-arm fast bowlers Neil Wagner and Trent Boult led the hosts' bowling efforts during the series, using predominantly short-pitched bowling to pick up a combined 24 of the 38 wickets that West Indies lost to bowlers over the course of two Tests.
"They all bring a variety of styles so they all do a different type of job and I think they were outstanding in the second innings of both Tests. Wickets were fairly tough to come by. Both times the surfaces slowed down a little bit. Here, the bounce became a little variable, which is great late in a Test match. You expect the surface to age a little bit and the way they were able to pick up the wickets was outstanding."
The fast bowlers had also chipped in with crucial runs during the second Test, with Tim Southee stitching a half-century stand with Boult for the last wicket in the first innings, and holding one end up as Ross Taylor got to his 17th Test hundred at the other end.
"[Ross] is such a fine player. It was great that he could achieve such a fantastic thing for himself and for the team as well. To get the team to such a good position in the second innings, you know, a 150 lead, is a nice place to be," Williamson said.
"Lower-order runs are so valuable. Throughout the series our lower order have contributed nicely. That was a big partnership for us, especially after getting put in. To get that extra 50 to 370 [373] was a good effort. "
This was New Zealand's seventh series win at home in their last nine since 2013, with their only losses coming against South Africa and Australia. In between, they won a Test match in England, who will be their next opponents.
"I think the highlight would probably be how we adapted and stuck to our plans and executed those plans. We knew coming against this West Indies side, how talented they are. Winning away in England was a great effort and we were expecting a tough challenge.
"We want to be winning as much as we can. But we know we have two Test matches [against England] coming up in the summer, so we'll have to be very good again."