Match plan worked to perfection in Indian final

Our build-up for the final of the Buchi Babu included a team meeting where we decided our game plan, a plan that was to be carried out efficiently.

We set down what was going to be necessary to win the final at the captain's meeting the night before the game. This is standard procedure with what the CLEAR Black Caps do before they play.

As we had already played two matches at the stadium, I thought we should have a slight advantage over our opposition, the Cricket Association of Bengal. The crux of our meeting was reinforcing the strategies that had worked for us over the last six days of competition at the stadium.

For the batsmen it was all about the individual analysis of the situation, having a plan in mind, and executing that plan. We wanted to bat first, for five sessions, accumulate a score of over 450 to set the game up for our bowlers.

The spinners felt their pace needed to be quicker with in/out fields, while they would bowl tightly for the quicks at the other end.

For the pace bowlers it was all about being aggressive and intimidating with short-pitched bowling, but also being prepared to revert to conventional length. The main issue was to be patient and persistent.

I summed up the meeting by saying: "If we do the ordinary things well over the next three days then we will have an extraordinary game and we will win the tournament."

We had a 105-minute delay due to a damp pitch on the first morning and while I lost my first toss of the tour, we were batting first, to my surprise. That was great news for us.

I guess they thought with the moisture on the wicket their seamers could extract some movement from it, or they might have been worried about what our seamers could have done.

We managed to put our best batting performance of the tour together for the final. Three of the top five, Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent and Hamish Marshall, made starts and scored hundreds. They all batted superbly and set up the game for our bowlers when we declared late on the second day at 484/7.

The bowlers then bowled aggressively and attacked their batters above the waist to leave CAB reeling at 74/5 at the end of day two.

They threw the bat at everything on the last day but the damage had been done and Brooke Walker finished the tail up with four quick wickets to give us the win, half an hour before lunch.

It was fantastic winning the Buchi Babu tournament, but because we played so much cricket in such a short space of time, I think most of us were just as relieved to have won and to have it all over and done with.

In reviewing the tournament you would have to say it was good for all of us. Each of the top five batsmen scored centuries and batted time while the bowlers learnt that patience and persistence were rewarded with wickets like gold on flat Indian pitches.

Everyone learned how to play in hot, humid Indian conditions while appreciating what it takes to be successful over here.

We stayed true to our motto that: "Today's maximum is tomorrow's minimum." We got better and better as the tournament progressed.

Our first game was almost the hardest as we played as if it was our first game of the season. But after that we had only one bad day of cricket in 12 days which isn't too bad. The biggest thing of all was that we produced our best performances in the final which is the sign of a good team.

As captain, it was great being the leader of only the second New Zealand cricket team to win an overseas tournament. But it was the involvement of the whole tour party that made this a memorable and successful time.