3 minute read

The kiwis get their first taste of Boxing Day in Australia in a long while.

Can the New Zealand batsman combat the heat of the Aussie quicks?

AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND

Second Test

26 - 30 December 2019 @ MCG

Shakespeare has an appropriate quote for most things. In Macbeth there was double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Well not only was it hot in the kitchen in Perth but also the horizon has some serious anxiety associated to it for Boxing Day.

We did learn a few things at Optus Stadium last week that gave pause to many aspects of the cricketing landscape.

The first is that a drop-in pitch can be a decent strip to play on.

Even allowing for the fact the temperatures were worse than Australia's DRS record, the surface was more than interesting – offering the batsman a chance to play shots at the start of the game and by then end, it turned.

There was carry to both keepers, any unevenness can easily be attributed to the climate and it spun too.

Sometimes the sun bakes a pitch into dullsville – but it is so much better when it causes cracking. Oh how we miss Tony Greig and his keys being lost into the Earth's core.

The blandness of play will be the main reason test cricket doesn't survive. We must do everything possible to stop that. Making the 22 yards much more than drearyland is a compulsory aspect of every groundsman's charter.

We've seen what that perceived need to make the MCG a more fascinating contest leads to just last week. Spicing up the pitch in the Shield game ended in disastrous consequences.

In many ways what gets dished up on Boxing Day will be the biggest of narratives.

The ICC has previously issued directives regarding the great ground's sub-standard offerings and any repeats would lead to an historic scratching from the schedule. 'All the world's a stage' but this one might not be.

The MCG might be the mecca for many sporting rituals but there will definitely be some prayers made by Cricket Australia administrators after Christmas.

One thing we did see that wasn't pitch-related but more the intent of the bowlers was the barrage of bouncers delivered.

Neil Wagner and Tim Southee were without their partner in crime Trent Boult but there was no letting the horse bolt with the amount of short stuff. And nor should there. It's a Test and within reason you are free to try whatever might work – especially to those who can hold the willow with some assurance.

What was strange was the approach from some Australian batsman. The second innings was a conundrum.

Free to advance the match with some haste, there was a lot cherries 'stamped' on the body. Matthew Wade would have looked like a Christmas tree with all his round red baubles marked on his chest and arms.

But then contrast that to all the Aussies who took on the short stuff and perished. There was playing uncontrolled hooks or there was those who fended it off unsuccessfully.

Maybe they wanted to impose their will on the game but the kiwis didn't flinch. Could it be a forerunner for the next two weeks?

They also did this without the services of Lockie Ferguson who was calf restrained.

With more support they could even sustain the peppering for longer. It is Wagner's MO to try some form of intimidation. Jofra Archer showed on less bouncy decks that you can unsettle a few.

Not only did New Zealand lose Ferguson, Australia lost the quality of Josh Hazlewood. These soft tissue injuries have been a 'thing' at the Perth Stadium in its short existence but it seems a bit of a stretch to blame that after those vanquished had bowled so little at the time.

The big Aussie quick bowled eight balls and during that time had already knocked over an opener with a tailing off-cutter to the left hander.

Could it have been the extreme heat which caused more of the issue? Hazlewood had spent a day and a half with his feet up, playing cards in the cool then walked out into 40 plus.

That core-temperature probably also leads to the seeming lack of atmosphere inside the stadium. When full, it's an intimidating place as all the West Coast opponents (and a few of Freo's too) have felt in two years.

But even with around 20,000 it looked and sounded hollow. The actual crowd was decent enough but in that arena, there appeared a feeling of emptiness along with the view. Maybe that was unfair from so far away but even half that many at the WACA would have had a buzz.

Someone who was buzzing was Steve Smith – and not for the reason he'd hoped for. Since his ridiculous heroics on English soil, he hasn't been able to replicate that back home. It certainly was no 'Winter of discontent'.

In many ways that is good for the team with the lack of reliance but he would prefer to keep the bat flowing.

Scores of 4, 36, 43 and 16 have followed at less than 25 and a strike rate of 37 which is nearly half what he rollicked along at against the old enemy.

He's just out of kilter a little bit but abdication of his throne seems premature. That said he's been bounced out and surely the kiwis maintain the rage.

At least we know his catching is not affected. The best there has been for a long time was Mark Waugh. Some of his snares like the one off Alec Stewart at Leeds and the famous thin edge off Inzaman at Hobart defy some logic. Well Smith is right up there with him.

THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE!

What a catch by Steve Smith! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/2vx8YhVPqS

— #7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 13, 2019

The bowlers didn't shirk their tasks. Starc, Cummins and Lyon provided a continued excellence in the face of their own restrictions with the loss of Hazlewood. One day Cummins will get a 8 or 9-for. Few times he gets complete reward for all his efforts.

The big question for New Zealand heading to Boxing Day is not their bowling but their batting. No doubt they were hamstrung (or should we say calf-strung) after day one with the injury and the conditions after losing the toss.

But batting under lights, they quickly fell behind in the game and it wasn't helped that their best player Kane Williamson couldn't get momentum.

The Smith pearler in the first dig was followed by a lovely bit of grip and bounce to Lyon in the second. They need him to get three figures to be any hope.

Assuming the MCG is fine to go, it will have been 32 years since it hosted the foe from across the Tasman. That was a cracking test with Australia chasing 247 on the last day and finished 17 short, with the last pair surviving 23 minutes of Richard Hadlee's best for a Draw.

While it won't be a road for certain, they won't let it become unplayable given the implications. So the bowlers will have to work.

With James Pattinson the likely inclusion, he could well be worth a bet as those who were forced to endure the heat must be a little run down.

His record on his home track is very strong. He has 12 wickets @ 19 in two matches. Let's look for some big thunderbolts from the big man from the 'Big V'.

The Drop-In will be a fascination this week. If it's a disappointing surface, the off-field consequences will play out like another Shakespearean Tragedy.

The captains will both be pondering, "To Bat or not to bat – that is the question."