TALKING POINTS
Follow UsSmith and Khawaja dig in but fail to convert
Pat Cummins had a wry smile on his face as soon as Tim Southee won the toss because he knew exactly what was coming his side’s way.
Overcast conditions. Green top. Strong breeze. Awaiting Australia was a pretty tough, pretty long session with the bat.
The odds were not in Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja’s favor, but the pair negotiated the first morning at the Basin Reserve as well as any visiting pair has in a very long time.
Before today, New Zealand, since 2017, had bowled first at the Basin Reserve (after winning the toss) five times. Every single time they managed to have the opponent at least three down by lunch.
Today, however, the Blackcaps, who went in with four seamers, were able to strike just once — that too just 10 minutes before lunch, when Matt Henry removed Smith with an absolute peach.
Both Smith and Khawaja dug in. At the end of the first hour’s play, Australia were sitting on 27/0 after 15 overs. Remarkably, the two openers left alone a whopping 41.8% of the balls they faced.
The pitch was soft and slow upfront, but, more than the surface, New Zealand were undone by the patience and discipline shown by the pair of Smith and Khawaja, who were crystal clear with what they wanted to do — which was to see off the first couple of hours and take the shine off the new ball.
The Australian openers achieved their first target, but, to their dismay, neither batter could make the hard work count. While Smith departed on the stroke of lunch for 31, Khawaja was dismissed on the other side of the first session, bowled for 33. Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head departing for single-digit scores didn’t help the visitors’ cause either.
READ: Labuschagne can’t stop nicking, and there seems to be no end in sight
Smith and Khawaja put on a masterclass on how to survive on a green top, but Australia ultimately weren’t able to reap the benefits of the duo’s hard work.
Cam Green scored a ton at least, but it could — and should — have been so much better for the visitors.
New Zealand make the most of quickened-up surface post lunch
The Basin Reserve wicket, which was slow and sluggish in the first session, noticeably quickened up after lunch once the sun came out. And the New Zealand quicks made the most of the sped-up surface, making life difficult for the Australian top and middle-order.
In no time, 61/0 turned into 89/4. Not only was there more pace in the surface post lunch, and the ball discernibly seamed a lot more too.
This added seam movement accounted for the wickets of both Khawaja and Head. While Khawaja was castled by a beauty from Matt Henry that shaped into him, Head was undone by a Will O’Rourke delivery that left his bat after pitching.
Speaking of O’Rourke, the greenhorn was the Kiwi bowler who benefited the most from the surface speeding up. Using his height, the 22-year-old got the ball to jump off the surface and ping the Aussie batters on their body multiple times.
He kept hitting the awkward 6m-8m length and kept the Aussie batters on their toes.
Coming back to the surface, apart from deliveries rearing up off the pitch occasionally, the ball held up in certain instances too. It was a ball that stopped on the surface that accounted for the wicket of Alex Carey, who hit an innocuous Kuggelejin delivery straight to cover.
Will New Zealand regret the extras they’ve gifted?
The last thing you want to be doing after winning the toss and opting to bowl on a green top is gifting your opponent runs. But on the day, the Blackcaps bowlers conceded an eye-watering 30 extras. Leg-byes can still be excused but 22 of the 30 extras came via byes and wides.
Young O’Rourke was guilty of bowling a fair few balls that were erratic. The 22-year-old conceded 10 wides in total and also bowled a couple of other loose balls that ended up giving the wicket-keeper Tom Blundell no chance.
Should this encounter prove to be a low-scoring one, these extras could prove very costly for the Kiwis.
Cam Green has his breakthrough knock at No.4
Asking Smith to open to fit Green into his preferred position was always going to be a gamble, but the youngster vindicated the management’s faith in him by smashing a sublime ton that helped Australia get close to the 300-run mark.
At 61/0, Australia were in a commanding position after losing the toss. But they soon found themselves in deep trouble at 89/4. Things could so easily have gone awry for the visitors from this point, but Green absorbed the pressure and produced the best knock of his career yet, to help Australia end the day on 279/9.
Green had only amassed 36 runs when Alex Carey, the last recognized batter, got out. But without panicking, he kept his composure and added 67 more runs with the bowlers to bring up his second Test ton.
It’s a huge monkey off the back for Green, who has not had the best of times in Test cricket since the start of 2023.
This could just be the breakthrough knock that propels him to achieve special things in red-ball cricket.
READ: Cam Green vindicates management’s faith to make the No.4 spot his own
