Cricket: Quartet of bowlers relishing the hunger

Chris Martin. Photo / Getty Images

The competitive spirit within the New Zealand seam bowling quartet is rubbing off in the most positive way.

With senior man Chris Martin leading the way, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell and Tim Southee are sprouting wings in terms of their development and hunger for success.

They all bring something different to the job - Boult's left-arm swing is a point of difference, all three swing the ball and Bracewell's aggression is the most tangible of the three. All that is topped off by the indefatigable Martin's skill and nous.

They shared 17 of the 20 Zimbabwean wickets that fell at McLean Park on Saturday, with Martin's man of the match performance of eight for 31 from 14.3 overs - including career-best six for 26 in the second innings - taking the honours.

"The four guys all do something a little different. We're all hungry, we don't get over-bowled so there's a little bit of venom in every spell," Martin said. "We all hit the deck pretty hard. We wanted the ball the whole day. We were all competing for it and it's nice to have a win out of that kind of competitiveness."

At 37 Martin is in fine form. He puts that at least in part down to a spot of tinkering with his run-up last summer. "It was just to get my stride patterns right with my run-up so I wasn't overstriding and left for any effort at the end of my run-up.

"Now I'm cruising a little bit more and I suppose the angle with which I'm bowling helps swing the ball a little more. With the attacking line I bowl not every ball swings, which brings the slips into play at times."

Martin is into his 13th test season and the change to a four-seam, one-spin bowling attack since the test win over Australia at Hobart two matches ago has altered the team dynamic.

Dan Vettori batting at No 6 allows for a fourth seamer. Wicketkeeper BJ Watling's century at No 7 against Zimbabwe was grist for that mill too.

Four seamers won't be guaranteed for all three tests against South Africa in March, but there is enough evidence so far to make it a favoured policy, at least for the start of that series in Dunedin on March 7.

Zimbabwe's inability to push New Zealand meant the hosts may not have got as much value out of the match as they'd hoped. But Martin took encouragement from the bowling perspective.

"The consistency with which we attack that off stump, or fourth stump, line with a little bit of movement and draw them into playing shots they don't want to, against any side that's a competitive ability we have at the moment.

"The slip catching was out of this world. Those are things we may have to do longer against South Africa, but definitely bode well for the ability of the boys to ... get the results."

The younger trio talk of the importance of Martin's role to their operation. "Chris is setting a great example and they're learning from their success," coach John Wright said.