Fidel Edwards: It Was My Day

West Indian paceman Fidel Edwards said that day three of the second and final Test against New Zealand was "his day" after he picked up seven wickets to keep his side in the match. West Indies closed the day on 62 for two in their second innings, still two runs behind after New Zealand made 371 in reply to West Indies 307. Edwards picked up seven for 87, career-best figures. “I felt really good with the way the ball was coming out and obviously I’m thrilled to get my career-best figures. You could say it was my day and I decided to make the most of it,” Edwards said. “Hopefully it was the kind of performance that could see my team go on to win the Test match and with it the series. That would be wonderful for us.” Edwards roughed up the New Zealand batsmen with well-directed short-pitched bowling. “It is still a good batting pitch so I tried to mix-up my deliveries as much as possible. You had to do something to get wickets out there and I looked at all my options. Using the short ball was just part of the plan to unsettle the New Zealand batsmen and it worked some of the time,” he said. “The game is back at square one. We need to get a total on the board which we can defend in the fourth innings if the match.” Edwards picked up his 100th Test wicket on day two when he dismissed Daniel Flynn caught and bowled. “I always dreamed of reaching this landmark and I’m very happy I got there. It feels special. I was waiting a while for it and I believe I bowled well,” he said. The prized 100th came from a caught and bowl after he fooled Daniel Flynn with a slower ball. “I was giving him some short stuff so I decided to slip in a slower ball to see how he would handle it. He pushed it back and I was happy when I took the catch,” Edwards said. His older half-brother Pedro Collins also took 100 Test wickets. “We are the first brothers to each take 100 Test wickets so that added a bit extra to the moment. I spoke to ‘Peddy’ before the match and he told me it was a chance to create history so that was a bit of added motivation as well,” Edwards explained. © Cricket World 2008