NZ Vs AUS: After a good show with the ball from New Zealand, this Test Match in Wellington has become interesting to watch. Australia had dominated the first two days of this red ball game in Basin Reserve. But their low score in the second innings of this Test match has allowed the home side to make a mini comeback.
Cameron Green was the star of Australia’s first innings with the bat while Nathan Lyon was too hot for the Kiwi batters to handle. Despite that, Australia has failed to boss the third day of this match as they were bundled out very cheaply in their second innings. The Aussies could muster only 164 runs with the bat in hand and they lost their majority of wickets to a part time bowler of the Blackcaps side.
Australia continued from their overnight score of 13 runs with the loss of two wickets. On the second day, Steve Smith got out on the first delivery of the second innings and the bad morning continued to trouble the visitors on the third day as well. None of the Aussie batters could hang around in their last outing of this Test match.
It was only Nathan Lyon, the lead Australian spin bowler who batted well and he was the top scorer of the second innings of the Aussies with 41 runs. The hero of the 1st innings, Cameron Green who was not out in the 1st innings was second highest scorer for them in the second innings with 34 runs.
But the other main batsmen of Australia, Khawaja, Head and Green didn’t convert their starts into a substantial score. Australia needed beyond 400 runs to put more pressure on the batters of New Zealand in the last innings of this 1st Test match.
However, Glenn Philips bowled well, which never allowed any batter from Australia to settle and make a big score. Philips picked up a five wicket haul in the second innings when the Aussies batted. Glenn picked up 5 wickets for 45 runs to bundled out the visitors for just 164 runs.
The top order players of New Zealand continue to bat poorly in this Test Match. Latham, Will Young and Kane Williamson were out cheaply in the second innings as well and that too while chasing a sniff score of 369 runs to win the first red ball match of this series.
A lot was expected from the former Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson. But he failed in both the innings of this 1st Test match. Kane was run out on a golden duck in the 1st innings and he scored just 9 runs in the second innings.
New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals just like they did it in the 1st innings. It was Nathan Lyon again who did a good job with the red cherry in hand. He picked up two wickets and Travis Head has got one scalp to his name for the Aussies.
For the home side, New Zealand, Rachin Ravindra is not out on 56 runs while Daryl Mitchell is unbeaten on 12 runs. These two batters will be the overnight batsmen of the 3rd day of this Test match. The Kiwis still need 258 runs to win with 7 wickets in hand.
On the fourth day of this Test Match, which is also the last day, the bowlers of Australia will back themselves to pick the remaining seven wickets of New Zealand early as possible. Lyon will be the key player for the Aussies tomorrow. The Kiwis will need Rachin Ravindra to stand tall in this run chase which will certainly help New Zealand to win this match.
