After his record-shattering 302, New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum spoke to the media during the post-match press conference. Excerpts
On his double hundred
My innings was what was required at that stage (94/5). We were obviously scrapping to save the Test and therefore win the series, and we managed to get some partnerships under pressure. And then kept batting and batting and batting. So it was pretty satisfying to get us out of trouble and claim the series win. I wasn’t feeling nervous until I saw the size of the crowd. It was a moment, when the 300 came up and the applause was ongoing for quite a while, it is really when it hit home to me that it was quite a significant achievement for a New Zealander and I’ll certainly remember them for the rest of my life
On his 352-run partnershipswith BJ Watling
Thankfully I had partners at the other end who also played brilliant innings. I thought BJ and Neesh, their innings were outstanding. BJ’s in particular because he came in when we were five down for 90-odd and he obviously came off a duck in the first innings as well. To play an innings like that is testament to how strong a character he is. Then Neesh in his first Test match, with the game still reasonably poised to come out and play his natural game, which is aggressive, takes a lot of courage, so I was pretty lucky to have those guys there. Then I had to fight the emotion when I hit the ball a bit harder than I was trying to hit and make sure of the team goal first and foremost
On being dropped by Virat Kohli
I’m not sure what sort of wine Kohli drinks but he probably got his bit of karma back this afternoon (scoring a hundred after given not out off a visible edge). I very much appreciated him putting that one down but thankfully I didn’t offer too many chances after that,” said the star batsman.
On how would he celebrate
I’m going to have a quiet beer with my team-mates. Just catch up with the boys and pledge up in the changing room and just reflect on a season that’s been pretty important for us and the game in New Zealand