Guptill praises Southee, Vettori after hard-fought win

After a hard-fought victory against Bangladesh in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Group A encounter at Seddon Park, New Zealand ended the group stage with a perfect record as they registered six victories in a row. Opener Martin Guptill, who scored a fighting century, praised Tim Southee and Daniel Vettori for holding their nerve to help the hosts clinch a three-wicket win.

"It was a bit of a topsy-turvy game. They were on top for a lot of it, then we fought back and then they fought back again. It's just nice to get the win under the belt and show some fight towards the end, and the way Timmy [Tim Southee] and Dan [Daniel Vettori] finished it off was pretty fantastic," Guptill said in a post-match press conference.

"Obviously (it was) a tight finish, and it just shows we found another way to win another game of cricket, and I think that's a testament to the side. We were challenged in different ways, and we managed to come through it and add another two points to the total. Yeah, it's a different win for us, but it just shows us the quality to the side and we can win where we're in different circumstances throughout the game," Guptill said.

Mohammad Mahmudullah hit a second successive century to lead Bangladesh to a respectable 288 for 7. In reply, New Zealand lost a couple of wickets early before Guptill (105) added 131 runs for the third wicket with Ross Taylor (56) to get them back on track. While Bangladesh fought back well to give New Zealand a scare, Vettori and Southee stayed till the end and helped the hosts get over the line with seven deliveries to spare.

A hundred and a fifty in his last two innings is a confidence booster for Guptill, who had failed to convert his starts in the earlier group stage matches. When asked about his knock, the opening batsman said: "It's always nice to score a hundred, whether it's in the World Cup or not. It's nice to get the end result there and get the win as well. I think it's been building up to this. Today was just sort of one of those days where everything went into the gap and I scored quite freely. Those days are few and far between sometimes, so when you have those days, you've got to make the most of them."

Skipper Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson have scored bulk of the runs for New Zealand in this World Cup. When asked if other batsmen getting some runs under the belt in this game was crucial, Guptill said: "Obviously those two are having some pretty good summers. But them getting out early and us to be able to put a hundred partnership on, Ross [Taylor] and myself, and then Grant [Elliott] coming in and playing the great little cameo hitter, and then obviously Corey [Anderson], as well, just shows the depth that we've got in our batting line-up and that we can fight through any situation."

Tim Southee went wicketless in this game but he played an important role with the bat to help his side prevail. The pace bowler, who praised Bangladesh for their spirited performance, also had some good things to say about Mahmudullah's knock. "They've had the edge over us in their conditions, and we've managed to keep the edge over them in our conditions. It's always been reasonably tight between the two of us. I think their batters got through a trippy period at the start there where it was swinging, and for us only having (them) two down I guess gave them a bit of a base to get through and they adapted to the conditions. Mahmudullah played a great innings, great knock through the middle there where he sort of picked his pace and other guys chipped in. I think they will take heart over the way that they played in these conditions."

Regarding his crucial unbeaten partnership with Vettori and what was going through his mind in a tight finish, Southee said: "I think it was great to have Dan there. Obviously a lot of experience and someone that's been in those situations before, so he sort of - he was great to have the other end to talk you through what your options were and the way that we were going to knock off those runs. Yeah, just showed that although it might have been a bit tense around, it was great to have an old hit at the other end to get us through to the end there."

Having finished at the top of the table, New Zealand are awaiting results from a couple of Group B ties to see who they will face in their quarter-final clash. Southee said the Black Caps were not worried about the opponents in the knock-outs while he also mentioned that New Zealand's approach will be the same.

"No, I don't think so (when asked if New Zealand will change their approach in the knock-outs). I think what's worked well for us throughout this tournament is we have approached every game as if it's just another One Day International. Just because it's World Cup we haven't had to change the way we go about things. I'm sure this week is no different. Just because it's a quarter-final doesn't mean that we have to change anything. It's just another game of cricket, and we'll approach it and attack it in the same way that we have the last six - last couple years. It seems to be working, so nothing will change."