Trent Boult, the left-handed swing bowler, has been the backbone of New Zealand’s bowling unit across all the formats. Since his debut on the international stage in 2011, the pacer has grown by leaps and bounds to establish himself as one of the most lethal and successful fast bowlers of recent times. He also plays for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. As Boult turns 32 on July 22, we have handpicked his five best bowling performances in the International circuit so far.
6/30 vs Sri Lanka, Hagley Oval, 2018
The last Test of the two-match series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval saw the hosts putting up a poor batting performance in the first innings. Following the score of 179, Sri Lanka were expected to take a good lead after their batting innings. However, Boult had other plans.
The seamer caused a collapse of the opposition’s batting unit by picking as many as six wickets while giving just 30 runs in his 15 overs. Boult picked another three-wicket haul in the last innings to help New Zealand secure a victory by a massive 423 runs. Undoubtedly, it is Boult’s Test performance in the purest format of the game till date.
4/34 vs India, Rajkot, 2017
Boult registered his best figures in the purest format of the game in a T20I match against India in 2017 in Rajkot. Batting first in the game, the Kiwis put up a total of 196 runs in their 20 overs. Chasing the target, India fell short of 40 runs as Boult bowled magic with the ball.
The left-arm pacer picked four crucial wickets including Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni and Axar Patel. He finished with figures of 4-0-34-4.
7/34 vs West Indies, Hagley Oval, 2017
Boult delivered the finest performance of his ODI career during the second One Day International of the three-match series against West Indies in 2017. West Indies were chasing a target of 325 set by Kiwis, when they were hit by a storm named Trent Boult.
The 32-year-old pacer went all guns blazing against the opposition’s feeble batting line-up to scalp seven wickets while conceding just 34 runs in his ten overs. On the back of the exploits by Boult, New Zealand won the ODI by 204 runs while Boult took home the Man of the Match Award.
6/33 vs Australia, Seddon Park, 2017
Boult’s another impressive performance in the 50-over format came against Australia at Seddon Park in 2014. The ODI commenced with New Zealand batting first and posting a total of 281 runs in their 50 overs.
Chasing 282, Australia couldn’t keep themselves alive as they were bowled out for 257. The credit for the same goes to the veteran seamer Boult. The Rotorua-born finished with the figure of 10-1-33-6.
5/17 vs Pakistan, University Oval, 2018
The third One Day International of the five-match series between New Zealand and Pakistan in 2018 saw a disastrous collapse of the Men in Green’s batting line-up. While Pakistan were following the target of 258, they found themselves collapsing at a paltry total of 74.
Boult ran through the opposition’s batting line-up as he picked five wickets while giving away just 17 runs to help his team secure a victory by a massive 183 runs. A few of the notable wickets taken by Boult include the likes of Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Hafeez.
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