Neil Wagner and BJ Watling were the two players for whom appearing in World Cup or ICC event was a dream that would have remained unfulfilled if not for the World Test Championship. And Wagner in particular hasn’t let that winning feeling sunk in just as yet. For him, winning the Championship was the ultimate achievement in his career.
"I can't speak for everyone, this is the ultimate for me to win a Test Championship Final though it's the first one and probably hard to compare with others, it's definitely the pinnacle of the game for me,” he was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
"The support back home and support that was around there - the text messages keep flowing in, the phone keeps buzzing and to see what it has meant for Kiwi supporters and family and friends, means a lot to us too. So, it's definitely right up there,” he added.
The 35-year-old said that he never dreamt of playing an ICC Final, especially as he was not a part of New Zealand’s limited-overs scheme of things. "[I had] never [dreamt of it]. That was sort of a dream and a ship that had sailed to be fair - thinking about the white-ball World Cup in some sort of a way,’ he said.
But the announcement of WTC in 2019 got the 54 Test veteran excited as he saw a slight window of opportunity of playing in a World event finally. “I thought it was quite special and I thought it was something that's going to make Test cricket the way it is right now and make it quite exciting and add a bit more perspective to it,” said the holder of 229 Test wickets.
The Northern districts player is not anywhere near to quitting as he wants to keep on playing with the amount of energy he has left in the tank even at this age. "Age is just a number for me personally. It's not always going to have the glory numbers or the wickets or whatever it is, but I've got a role I can fulfil for the team and as long as I'm needed or called upon, or I guess asked to do a job, 100% I'll be there to contribute,” he said. "If anything this [WTC title] has just urged me on to work harder,” he added.