The pitch eased out after lunch: Williamson

Auckland: New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson credited his team`s fantastic turnaround on the opening day of the first Test against India to the pitch, saying that it eased out considerably after a "tough" opening session here on Thursday.

The Kiwis recovered from 54 for three at lunch to be 329 for four at stumps on Thursday and Williamson, who smashed a 113-run knock, said the pitch helped his team`s cause from the second session onwards. "Naturally we wanted to win the toss which never ever seems to happen but it was tough initially which you expect with the new ball. Certainly it got pretty easy to bat on after lunch and going into the last session, so it`s nice to be in the position we are in going in to tonight," he said at the end of day`s play. "At some stage or the other, the Indian bowlers were all more threatening than others. Zaheer (Khan) was very good, then (Mohammed) Shami would come in with a very good spell and when the pitch got very good to bat on, Ishant would hit the bat hard. It`s hard to point one out but at certain times in their spells, they were all very threatening and something that we had to weather a little bit," he added. Williamson was very effusive in his praise for skipper Brendan McCullum, who was unbeaten at 143. McCullum shrugged off some patchy form to score his eighth Test hundred and put on 221 runs for the fourth wicket with Williamson after the team was reduced to 30/3 in the morning session. "Brendon was the front-runner in this partnership and he batted outstandingly. He is hitting the ball really well in the nets and it is great to see him convert that into a performance. He is the captain and the way he has led the team has been fantastic. "You look at his runs but he offers so much in other areas. It`s great that he is able to put a performance on Thursday but that`s something that is a little bit of an icing for him after great performances in the ODIs as well through his captaincy," said the centurion.