New Zealand all-rounder Andre Adams was a relieved man tonight having come through a significant test in his recovery from a stress fracture in his back last summer.

Adams said after taking a five-wicket bag for the paltry cost of 33 runs, by Super Max standards, that he had felt no pain in his back.

He said it was the first time since his injury that he had bowled at the sort of intensity he had been at for the match and there had been a period tonight where he was bowling at 90-100 per cent.

While he was operating off a short run-up that was usual for him in Super Max cricket, and he admitted that his greatest problem was when bowling off his normal run-up and then the landing phase.

There was no way he could attempt to play Test cricket at the moment because he couldn't bowl 20 overs a day.

He is targeting the One-Day Internationals starting on Boxing Day.

He said the Indian batting had been something of an unknown quantity, especially with the quality of the players to come during the match.

At one stage he even admitted to sitting back a little and just enjoying some of the shots that they were playing, and especially those unleashed by Sachin Tendulkar.

When the pressure went on the bowlers at the end as New Zealand had only 109 runs to defend, Adams said he especially enjoyed bowling with Paul Hitchcock.

While he now plays for Wellington, when he lived in Auckland before transferring south, Hitchcock had been Adams' captain for Takapuna and even then he had been as good a death bowler as there was.

Adams was also impressed with the effort put in by Brendon McCullum during the New Zealand second innings. McCullum had only the one bat in the game, sharing the wicket-keeping for one innings each with Chris Nevin.

"He's cleaned up his game and has a huge amount of talent," he said.

© CricInfo