Australia Cricket won the first game and now has a two-Test series lead that can’t be lost. With this easy win, Australia has safely kept the Trans-Tasman Trophy and will now try to make it a clean sweep. But New Zealand also had their moments, and there were many good things they could use to try to even up the series. The second Test between these two Trans-Tasman enemies will start on Friday, March 8th at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. At 3.30 am IST (10 pm GMT the day before), the first ball will be thrown. As always, you can join us early for the build-up.
New Zealand score had a rough start to Day 2 because Cameron Green and Josh Hazelwood’s tough playing killed their hopes of reducing Australia’s score. Australia got to 383 runs after a record-setting 116-run stand between the last two wickets. Green scored 150 runs. When they were batting, the hosts had a hard time forming strong combinations and kept losing wickets. Even though Glenn Phillips and Tom Blundell tried to fight back after tea, Nathan Lyon’s big hits gave Australia a big lead of 204 runs in the first innings. New Zealand got some comfort from Southee’s late efforts, but they still had a tough day ahead of them.
When it came to Australia Match, they relied on their star off-spinner Nathan Lyon a lot to get the last seven wickets. Lyon had a little trouble getting going in the morning, but once he switched ends, everything clicked. Lyon went bang, bang, bang in a single over, killing Glenn Phillips as his fifth target. He had had the most success from that end. Cameron Green and Josh Hazelwood got the ball quickly and moved Australia closer to winning.
After that, Lyon stopped Tim Southee in his tracks before Hazelwood finished the work. Nathan Lyon took 10 wickets in the game, including 6 in the second inning. This was his fifth time taking 10 or more wickets in a Test, and it was the best performance by a spinner at the Cello Basin Reserve. Josh Hazelwood got rid of two wickets, while Travis Head and Cameron Green each got rid of one.
Josh Hazelwood to Daryl Mitchell: “Get out!” Caught and thrown! That’s all there was to it. Australia won172 runs and now has a 1-0 lead in the series. At 135.9 km/h, Hazelwood hits it just over a length over off. Daryl Mitchell tries to pull hard but is a bit late. The ball loops straight up towards Josh Hazelwood after the top part of the bat. He gets ahead in his follow-through and makes the easy catch to end the game.
