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Updated
Signing off. On behalf of Geoff and myself, thanks for your company on the OBO throughout the Test. We’ll see you again on Boxing Day. Until then, have a happy and safe Christmas. Bye for now!
Mitch Starc speaks. He is the player of the match for his match figures of 9/97. He’s also thrilled with how the quicks got it done with Hazlewood. A technical change has helped him a lot this year working with Andre Adams at NSW, which has got him into a better head space as well. Will be enjoying a few days off before getting ready for the MCG Boxing Day Test.
Tim Paine speaks. Batted well in the first innings to set it up, batting to tea until day to enable bowling under lights. Proud of bowling attack who took 20 wickets with just two seamers and Lyon with part-timers chipping in.
Kane Williamson speaks. Challenging against Australia in the heat who were tactically outstanding and made the most of the new ball under lights. They were a long way ahead from there. It’s important we reflect and don’t get too carried away and look for little improvements before the MCG Test. A drastic difference from the Hamilton surface against England but that’s no excuse.
It was a great performance with the ball. Remember, Hazlewood only bowled eight deliveries in the Test before breaking down. Starc finishes with nine for the mach, Lyon six. It’s a crime that Cummins only collected three - he was equally brilliant. Starc should be player of the match as a result but Labuschagne will probably get the nod. We’ll see. The presentations are coming up shortly.
Nathan Lyon speaks. Clinical performance after losing Hazlewood. Couldn’t ask for a better bowling performance. New Zealand are the number two team in the world so they will bounce back in Melbourne on Boxing Day. “Pretty lucky” to get Williamson first ball. Had no idea he was on a hat-trick until Cummins told him. Starc has been working for a long time and is getting the rewards now.
AUSTRALIA WIN BY 296 RUNS! WICKET! Southee c Smith b Lyon 4.
There it is! Around the wicket, Southee edges gently into the hands of Smith at slip. Lyon finishes with 4/63. Australia go one-nil up.
65th over: New Zealand 171-9 (Southee 4, Ferguson 1) Starc to Southee from around the wicket and he adds four to the Kiwi total, albeit off his pads for leg byes. The next is a yorker, turned away out of the blockhole. Ferguson’s turn with three to face. Better still: he gets off the mark with one to point, Southee keeping the strike with a single of his own in that direction. Lyon’s turn for a fourth.
9,334 at the Casino Stadium tonight. That means the most recent Test at the WACA outdrew this on each day (1-4). Not good.
64th over: New Zealand 164-9 (Southee 2, Ferguson 0) Ferguson is batting despite the fact that he has a calf injury, which ruled him out of bowling from the first afternoon. Southee takes an agricultural single to pop him straight down the danger end against Cummins. It’s not a nice over to have to play out from around the wicket on one leg. A bit odd they have sent him out to bat? He has a slog at the last ball and misses, but he’s through it. Starc now has a chance at five.
I missed this when Wagner was in, but this is quite good.
Crowd's chanting `we want Wade'. They want Wade to bowl to Wagner.
— Andrew Faulkner (@AndrewFaulkner9) December 15, 2019
WICKET! Wagner c Paine b Starc 8 (New Zealand 163-9)
One to go! Wagner’s stay was an entertaining one, somehow managing to get a leading edge over third man for six. But Starc had the last laugh, winning a conventional outside edge from around the wicket, safely into the gloves of Paine. He has 4/42.
63rd over: New Zealand 163-9 (Southee 1)
62nd over: New Zealand 154-8 (Southee 0, Wagner 0) Matthew Wade is enjoying being, well, Matthew Wade. They are very happy to have Wagner out there under lights with the game now very much lost for the Black Caps. Of course, Wade was hit many times by Wagner in his gutsy innings. He’s immediately into the Kiwi bowler here as Cummins completes his second successful over on the trot. Oh, and by getting hrough that Wagner is off his King Pair, I should note.
WICKET! Santner c Head b Cummins 0 (New Zealand 154-8)
Cummins gets another! 20 wickets now in the Test have now fallen to the short ball and what a short ball this is. Santner had little no chance of getting out of the way, such was the brutal bounce. With both feet off the air, he deflected to Travis Head under the lid.
WICKET! Watling c Paine b Starc 40 (New Zealand 154-7)
PAINE REVIEWS CORRECTLY! There’s a mark on the hotspot and a spike on the snicko. Watling deserved a half-century but falls ten runs short. Starc has three. Australia should win this tonight.
61st over: New Zealand 154-7 (Santner 0)
Updated
PAINE GOES UPSTAIRS! Starc was appealing for caught behind down the legside - did Watling glove it? Umpire Llong says no. We’ll see.
60th over: New Zealand 154-6 (Watling 40, Santner 0) How will Santner go here? He usually plays his shots, might that be the best way for him to get the Black Caps to the close? Gee, he can’t have a dip at the short one to finish - it’s a brute of a thing that smashes into his shoulder. Ouch. The end of an outstanding Cummins over.
WICKET! de Grandhomme c Smith b Cummins 33 (New Zealand 154-6)
Cummins is back into the attack and strikes third ball of his spell! It’s a super bit of bowling from around the wicket, winning the edge of de Grandhomme with a ball he had to play at. Smith does the rest, claiming a sharp catch low to the turf. Four to go. He earned that.
59th over: New Zealand 152-5 (Watling 39, de Grandhomme 33) Starc again to CDG, a match-up they like. But he isn’t taking the bouncer on, getting underneath it instead. He leaves the next one up there too - good batting. He continues to stay the course until the final ball, where he has a wee waft at something well wide of off stump. Leave those alone, Colin. And with that, they take a drink. Australia have picked up just one wicket in the two hours I’ve been on the tools. They have 16 overs left to bowl tonight. “It will be hard work to get it done tonight,” agrees Wade, interviewed on TV during the break.
58th over: New Zealand 152-5 (Watling 39, de Grandhomme 33) Oooh, another edge from around the wicket for Lyon, Watling deflecting the ball to where second slip would be if one were in position. As they note on commentary, is there anything lost by having a second catcher there given he’s coming from that angle?
57th over: New Zealand 148-5 (Watling 36, de Grandhomme 32) The crowd give Starc a big cheer as he returns to the attack. It’s been two hours since he last bowled, so he should be fresh for this stint. There won’t be a second new ball tonight but that usually isn’t a problem for Starc with the pink missile, which he usually gets moving. As Mike Hussey points out on TV, there are fielders spread all over the place behind square to de Grandhomme when he gets on strike, Starc banging it in and making life tough but he makes it through. These two have now put on 50. There are 18 overs left tonight.
56th over: New Zealand 146-5 (Watling 36, de Grandhomme 31) Lyon’s biggest weapon right now is bounce rather than turn. He gets one to lift big, Paine just getting his gloves up in time. Other than that, Watling has a plan and he’s sticking to it - using the crease well.
55th over: New Zealand 144-5 (Watling 34, de Grandhomme 31) Shot. de Grandhomme jumps across his stumps to work Head with the spin down to the fine leg rope. A shot that is harder than it looks, especially with men around the bat catching. He defends the rest.
54th over: New Zealand 140-5 (Watling 34, de Grandhomme 27) It’s not drifting - they’re both giving it a rip and creating. When de Grandhomme is beaten here it prompts a shout for lbw. But, on the whole, the relatively set New Zealand pair are handling this well.
53rd over: New Zealand 138-5 (Watling 33, de Grandhomme 26) Head to replace Labuschagne, which isn’t a bad shout given how much turn he was generating before the tea interval. He’s certainly giving it a rip, so de Grandhomme plays him watchfully.
52nd over: New Zealand 136-5 (Watling 32, de Grandhomme 25) Around the wicket, Lyon finds two outside edges in a row... the second dropped by Smith at slip! It went quick to his left off Watling’s bat but you don’t expect to see a catcher of his ability put anything down. The other mitigating factor, as Mark Waugh notes, is that he would have seen it late from that angle due to Paine’s gloves. I should note that earlier in the over, Neser put in a superb dive, stop and throw. Before this summer is over, he must have a baggy green.
51st over: New Zealand 132-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 25) I do like Labuschagne’s style, racing through his overs like Ravi Jadeja.
50th over: New Zealand 130-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 23) “A classic in-out field,” says Michael Hussey of the plan to de Grandhomme with Lyon in operation: four catchers in close, three boundary-riders waiting for another hoick. But there’s nothing for anyone here despite how well the off-spinner is landing them.
On Aleem Dar, I have a note from Greg Mason. “Surely there should be a maximum number of successful reviews before the umpire is sent off and swapped for better one?”
Enormous respect for his long and committed service. But it’s probably time that Aleem was replaced on the elite panel.
49th over: New Zealand 129-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 22) Labuschagne replaces Cummins, who needs a breather. Quite right. de Grandhomme collects three first up from a half-tracker but the spinner is right on the mark with his topspinners to Watling, bringing those cracks into play more than the footmarks.
48th over: New Zealand 126-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 19) It’s such a bad decision from Aleem Dar. Paine barely appealed; his finger went up with him. de Grandhomme gets off strike with one into the on side after the reprieve, so to speak. Watling does the rest.
ALEEM DAR HAS GIVEN DE GRANDHOMME OUT. It isn’t out. He reviews right away. A massive gap; I can’t believe he gave it.
47th over: New Zealand 125-5 (Watling 28, de Grandhomme 18) Cummins searching for those cracks, doing it at pace. Watling in response doing as he has thoughout, defending with soft hands and getting out the way whenever he can. Cummins 16-5-28-0.
IMO Day 4 cracks more dangerous than day 1 divots. Don’t @ me
— Ed Cowan (@eddiecowan) December 15, 2019
46th over: New Zealand 123-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 17) de Grandhomme has showed plenty of patience against Lyon since hitting his second ball for six... that is, until, he finishes this over with a one-handed smash over square leg. It’s safe and four but deserves to be neither on aesthetic grounds. He’s still there!
45th over: New Zealand 119-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 13) Some chaos to begin, de Grandhomme losing the ball after dealing with a biting short one. Leaving his ground, Wade races in and tries to back-heel the ball onto the stumps. Fair to say it was no Mo Salah from yesterday... what a ridiculous goal that was. They both were.
Mohamed Salah. That’s the GIF. pic.twitter.com/rlJEectflH
— Samue (@SamueILFC) December 14, 2019
44th over: New Zealand 117-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 12) It was Smith’s fault that they didn’t review the caught behind off Lyon in the previous over, insistent that it was pad not bat, the stump mic reveals. Watling is far more assured against him this time around, blunting the spin time and again off the front foot.
43rd over: New Zealand 116-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 11) How is it possible that Cummins has one wicket in this match? In a way, I wish he had none so it could beat McGrath’s effort at Melbourne in 2000, which I have previously written of as being the best pair of none-fas in Test Cricket. This time around he smacks CDG on the thigh pad early in the over before nearly hitting him in the helmet with an accurate short one. The big boy keeps his cool though, steering a square drive out to deep point for three. In doing so, he brings up his 1000th run in Test cricket. With a batting average above 40 and a bowling mark under 30, he’s a legitimate Test all-rounder.
42nd over: New Zealand 113-5 (Watling 27, de Grandhomme 8) For once, Paine doesn’t review... on a delivery that found the edge and was out! A lovely piece of bowling from Lyon who had Watling on the front foot, lunging. Paine took it expertly and appealed. But when the decision didn’t go his way, he didn’t send it upstairs. Dear me.
41st over: New Zealand 108-5 (Watling 23, de Grandhomme 7) Cummins hasn’t picked up a wicket today but could easily run through this New Zealand lower order. He gets an early look at de Grandhomme and beats his inside edge, before finding it with his next delivery. Watling does well to clip a couple to finish. It’s on.
40th over: New Zealand 104-5 (Watling 20, de Grandhomme 6) And second ball, de Grandhomme HITS LYON FOR SIX! As you do. Dance, swing, connect. Over long-on, have that.
The players are back on the field. There are 35.2 overs left on this fourth day, which will take Australia the full 150 minutes. Then an extra half an hour at their disposal to finish the match tonight, which can be taken by the umpires if they see fit. Lyon to de Grandhomme, the new man, to complete his successful over. PLAY!
Interesting.
Langer tells Ponting Aust may play 5 bowlers - "four quicks and a spinner" at the MCG #AusvNZ
— Daniel Brettig (@danbrettig) December 15, 2019
Tidy take.
Just above the ground! #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/3w0hG2Z1hM
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 15, 2019
TEA! WICKET! Nicholls c Head b Lyon 21 (New Zealand 98-5)
That’s out. Nicholls was a long way forward and ball did hit his pad, but it flicked the back of his bat too before looping to Head. The South Australian did really well to get his right hand under it at silly point. A classic off-spinners’ wicket. Lyon has three. And that’s tea.
NICHOLLS GIVEN OUT CAUGHT AT SILLY POINT! He’s reviewing it.
39th over: New Zealand 97-4 (Nicholls 21, Watling 19) Labuschagne around the wicket to Nicholls, as wide of the crease is is legal. Paine and co continue to work him over for not generating much spin but he might not need to if he can land it in the footmarks there for him courtesy of at Pat Cummins. Not so on this occasion, the left-hander taking a couple to cover then two more off his pads. One over to go.
38th over: New Zealand 93-4 (Nicholls 17, Watling 19) Nathan Lyon is back for a brief burst before tea and it’s a lovely over too, Watling having to deal with tons of turn then one that doesn’t spin - possibly hitting a crack? - beating his outside edge with a lot of bounce. When Lyon has his tail up late in a Test match he’s such a different bowler.
37th over: New Zealand 93-4 (Nicholls 17, Watling 19) This pair have done well to calm things down across this fourth hour. As Ian Smith says on telly, the job is to now get this to a fifth day. They are going to lose, sure, but if they can make Cummins and Starc work tomorrow in the heat instead of resting, that’s not completely for nothing.
36th over: New Zealand 92-4 (Nicholls 17, Watling 18) Paine is having a lot of fun out there, comparing Labuschagne’s over to Kerry O’Keeffe on the basis of how little legspin he was generating. Now they have turned the stump mics up to head his commentary on Head’s fresh over. Nicholls shows a bit more purpose at him this time, coming down the track to clip - albeit not that convincingly - through midwicket for a couple. That’s the second time they’ve had an over of stump mics only without the captain saying an awful lot.
35th over: New Zealand 89-4 (Nicholls 15, Watling 17) Marnus to join Head as the other part-time spin option Paine has at his disposal. As Hussey says on commentary, it’s clever captaincy as it gives his two fast bowlers a chance to get a longer rest before they are called upon in the final session for what will be a 150-minute shift. A good over, too; Labuschagne’s leggies are dealt with respectfully by Watling.
34th over: New Zealand 86-4 (Nicholls 14, Watling 15) “Ooh! Tim May!” Paine likes Head’s turn an awful lot, comparing him to the fine South Australian offie. Fair enough too when beating Nicholls’ bat a couple of times this over with deliveries that rip a long way. Like it.
33rd over: New Zealand 86-4 (Nicholls 14, Watling 15) Watling’s turn for the Cummins interrogation and he’s up to the task, ducking when he can, playing with soft hands when he must. Fine batting. Surely, in the Perth heat, this spell won’t last that many more overs?
It is so very cricket that the ICC World Test Championship's only visible branding at a match is a tiny logo on the umpires' uniforms. The commercial wings of boards really need to push it more than that #AUSvNZ
— Daniel Brettig (@danbrettig) December 15, 2019
32nd over: New Zealand 86-4 (Nicholls 14, Watling 15) Head on for his first bowl this Test summer. Speaking of nicknames: “Get us one here, Empty.” Good work from the captain. Not a bad over either from the part-timer who was probably a bit more than a part-timer a few years ago when he was a regular in the ODI team, finding his length by the end of the over and skidding onto Nicholls pad from around the wicket with his final ball. There’s a big shout - and it is going on to hit the stumps - but there’s a big inside edge, too.
31st over: New Zealand 82-4 (Nicholls 11, Watling 14) More of the same, Cummins hammering in wide of the crease, making life tough every ball. “It doesn’t get any better than this,” says Vaughan of the big quick when they break his action into a slow-motion video.
30th over: New Zealand 81-4 (Nicholls 10, Watling 14) Well, that backfired on the host broadcaster. They decided to turn the stump mics up for the Lyon over and go silent on commentary. But after the first ball was driven off the back foot for four - a lovely shot by Watling - the Australians didn’t say anything for the duration.
29th over: New Zealand 77-4 (Nicholls 10, Watling 10) It’s a crime that Cummins hasn’t a wicket to his name in this session. He’s been magnificent. Much as it was that afternoon in Manchester when he could not have bowled any better, his colleagues cleaning Englnd up at the other end. This time around, he does find Nicholls edge - a genuine one too - but due to the pitch, it doesn’t carry.
Mark Waugh is still very grumpy that Starc didn’t play more in the Ashes. “He woulda knocked over Jack Leach.” Everyone seen this?
28th over: New Zealand 75-4 (Nicholls 8, Watling 10) Lyon is very close to Nicholls’ off-stump first up with one that goes straight on and misses everything. Quality cat and mouse contest between these two, the spinner mixing up his pace but on the same good length.
27th over: New Zealand 74-4 (Nicholls 7, Watling 10) As we see so often after a blow to the head with the next delivery, it directed outside the off-stump and wafted at. To be fair, it did plenty. There’s a lot going on out there now. Watling does well to defend the last couple with a nice, straight blade. Gutsy batting.
“Morning all.” Morning, David Kalucy. “Loving the contest and the day night element. Though it may not be traditional it is definitely a Test and that’s the point really, plus the poor cousins in Europe get to “watch” in real time.”
I must admit, there couldn’t be a better week for me to get used to watching/OBOing this Australian team from London than a Perth day-nighter. Most civilised. Less so when we get to the MCG and Sydney Tests, as I broke to my very-pregnant girlfriend last night.
Oh, and not traditional, you say? ‘Tis the season...
Phwoooooar! Off a length and off a crack, Cummins seams back into the grille of Watling’s helmet. He’s fine, immediately giving the thumbs up. But that’s brutal. We saw last year at the Casino Stadium that this pitch can really go up and down later and it certainly is here. Nothing strictly wrong with that, by the way. “He’ll fight,” Vaughan says of Watling, as they bring out a new helmet for him. There is a long delay as the doctors go through their assessments.
26th over: New Zealand 70-4 (Nicholls 7, Watling 6) Lyon is too short to Nicholls early and the left-hander makes no mistake, crunching a pull shot into the gap. He’s right back on it after that, bringing the batsman forward with ample flight. For what little it is worth, the requirement for New Zealand is now under 400. Did I hear a new nickname for Starc before drinks, by the way? Let’s keep on that.
Six to go. A pretty simple equation for Australia after yet another productive hour. If you go back to the first innings at Adelaide, Lyon was having a tough time of it. Now, after a couple of excellent spells, both to finish the Pakistan series and here against New Zealand, he looks every chance to do a lot of damage here. He’s a Confidence Man, make no mistake. You know the drill: let’s chat.
25th over: New Zealand 66-4 (Nicholls 3, Watling 6) Starc’s up-down bowling continues: twice he bowls too far onto the pads. Nicholls flicks him for three, Watling for four. Then an over-correction lets Watling drive through cover for two. Nine from the over. I don’t think Australia will be sweating it much.
Drinks break. I’m out, Adam Collins will be driving you home. If The Cars were wondering.
Updated
24th over: New Zealand 57-4 (Nicholls 0, Watling 0) A wicket-maiden for Lyon, with Watling now joining Nicholls. This match could be over today.
New Zealand still trail by 411 runs.
Wicket! Latham lbw Lyon 22 (NZ 57-4)
Lyon to Latham, and keeps tying him in knots. Latham hangs on the back foot while trying to play across the line. Lyon doesn’t turn that one much, and it angles in from around the wicket and hits Latham on the back leg. Latham knows he’s in trouble, looking up at Aleem Dar, who says not out. It’s not a bad call, because that ball could be angling down leg. The Australians aren’t convinced and take a long time to review. But eventually with a shrug Tim Paine decides to have a look, and the tracking shows full impact on leg stump. Latham’s trial is over.
23rd over: New Zealand 57-3 (Latham 18, Nicholls 0) Starc is up to seven wickets in the match. Henry Nicholls the next in, who’s been in good touch recently in Test cricket.
Updated
Wicket! Taylor c Paine b Starc 22 (NZ 57-3)
The short ball plan! It worked for New Zealand, now it’s working for Australia. Mitchell Starc again, he’s unstoppable in this match. Starc telegraphs his mode of attack with his field. Taylor wants to take him on. Nails a pull shot that deserves four but Wade fields it brilliantly at midwicket to stop any run. Then Taylor tries again, premeditated, against a ball that doesn’t get up and is angling across him, and can only nick it outside his off stump. Poor shot, good plan.
22nd over: New Zealand 57-2 (Latham 18, Taylor 22) Lyon is due for a wicket before long. Latham tries a huge swat at him, just gets a bottom edge into his pads. Lyon gets another ball to leap, and Latham fends it away for a single behind point. Then Ross Taylor tries a reverse sweep, with a slip in position, and bottom-edges it into the ground.
21st over: New Zealand 55-2 (Latham 17, Taylor 21) Mitchell Starc on to replace Cummins. This is the peril of the three-man bowling attack. New Zealand have survived Cummins’ brilliant spell, though it was short. They’ll have one from Starc, then perhaps another few Cummins overs. After that, Australia will have to go to Labuschagne or Wade or even David Warner to partner Lyon. From there, life becomes more possible for NZ.
Starc can’t do what Cummins did though: he gets too full to Taylor, who clouts a bottom-handed cover drive for four, then a more controlled one for three. Then the wrong line to Latham, who can work a brace and then a single off the pads.
20th over: New Zealand 49-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 18) Latham is suddenly a cat on a hot tin roof against Lyon. Comes down to try to get to the pitch and nearly gets stumped, having to half fall over to kick the ball away. Nearly endures a raucous appeal for leg before but Latham got an edge on it. Then Lyon bowls a gimme, short and wide, and Latham isn’t clear enough in his mind to hit it properly, only limping it away to point for a dot ball. Watch this space.
19th over: New Zealand 49-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 18) Cummins won’t quit. Gets a full over at Taylor, seven balls in fact with a bouncer wided for height. Taylor scores two with a leg-side push, but aside from that Cummins is around his outside edge non-stop.
18th over: New Zealand 46-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 16) Is Paine calling Lyon by ‘Gareth’ now? Can’t keep up. “He wasn’t gonna play that Gazza,” trills Paine as Ross Taylor lunges late to smother a ball outside off. Taylor responds by taking a knee to wallop Lyon through square leg for four. Deep backward square goes in front of square in the deep. Taylor reaches well outside off stump to drag a sweep shot to that man for a single.
17th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 11) Cummins keeps asking questions, targeting Latham’s inside edge to force defence to the on side, then outside edge to defend to gully. A bouncer makes Latham dip under it, a full ball takes an inside edge into pad. Then back to his natural length and it just beats the outside edge! What a spell this is.
16th over: New Zealand 41-2 (Latham 14, Taylor 11) Lyon getting the ball to jump and turn into Taylor as it did to dismiss Williamson. It is truly impressive just how many nicknames Tim Paine can get through for Lyon in a single over. Goat, Gazza, Garry, Nath, Goaty, Gaz, Gazbo, Lyno. Ever encouraging, and even when Taylor clouts a one-bounce four into a vacant midwicket, Paine says “Oh yes, love that Gaz!”
15th over: New Zealand 35-2 (Latham 13, Taylor 6) Cummins bowled a perfect over last time, and this one’s pretty good as well. Moving the ball just a little bit both ways, never far from the stumps. Tries Taylor with a shorter one, and gets a glove on the pull, but it lands safely for a run.
14th over: New Zealand 34-2 (Latham 13, Taylor 5) Latham may get away from Cummins for three balls, but now he has Lyon for six. The off-spinner has a ball skipping on nicely with the arm from around the wicket to the lefty, just past off stump. Latham defends most of the over, then cuts two when Lyon gets too short.
13th over: New Zealand 32-2 (Latham 11, Taylor 5) Cummins with the ball after the break, and he wastes no time against Latham. First beats the outside edge and flicks a bit of trouser fabric on the way through. An umpire could easily mishear that and pull the trigger, but Nigel Llong gets it right. Then again, as Cummins cuts the ball sharply back into Latham and hits him in front of middle, but going over with the bounce. Not out. Latham manages to escape the examination with an inside edge to midwicket.
Lunch – New Zealand trail by 437 with 8 wickets in hand
The result from here should be a formality, it’s just a question of how hard New Zealand can fight. With Australia a bowler down the batsmen are still a chance of making life difficult for the Aussies, but they haven’t done it yet. Two NZ wickets fell in that session after three Australians were dismissed and the home team declared at nine down. A full session of daylight batting is yet to come, and Latham and Taylor have to make the most of it to bed themselves in.
12th over: New Zealand 31-2 (Latham 10, Taylor 5) Lyon with the last over before lunch. Taylor drives inside-out between mid-off and cover, through for a run. Left-hander on strike. Slip, short leg, midwicket is open. Deep square leg out there. Lyon drops short though and Latham cuts for two, splitting the field. Latham gets a run to mid-on, then Taylor dances outside his off stump to kick away the last ball of the session.
11th over: New Zealand 27-2 (Latham 7, Taylor 4) Lots of field switching. Starc is bowling left-arm around the wicket to the left-handed Latham, presumably looking to create a really sharp angle across him, but is coming over the wicket to the right-handed Taylor. Midwicket, deep square, short leg, leg slip, fine leg. Very much the leg theory field. Pull up to my bumper, baby. Taylor spars at a ball on his hip but misses and gets a leg bye off the thigh pad.
10th over: New Zealand 25-2 (Latham 6, Taylor 4) Well, what a bonus. Paine will have to conserve Starc and Cummins, so he would have been bringing on Lyon early to get his fast bowlers operating at the other end for a while before having to turn to a part-timer. Getting the wicket of Kane Williamson first ball of that Lyon over is a lottery-win bonus. Ross Taylor survives the hat-trick ball, then thwacks Lyon away through third man for four.
Wicket! Williamson c Wade b Lyon
It’s Nathan Lyon time! First ball of the innings for him and he picks up the biggest wicket of all! Kane Williamson is gone, gloving to short leg. Lyon lands his first ball perfectly, in a footmark outside off stump. It spits, bounces, turns, and Williamson is initally looking to turn it away but only ends up flinching, trying to control it somehow, and can’t do it. Simple catch for Wade. Lyon is on a hat-trick, having taken the last wicket of the first innings.
9th over: New Zealand 21-1 (Latham 6, Williamson 14) Swing for Starc, beating Latham’s edge outside off. The cordon all go up, but Starc just points to his ear and says he didn’t hear anything. Quite so, there’s daylight between bat and ball. Latham quietly sees out the over. He’s 6 from 26 balls.
8th over: New Zealand 21-1 (Latham 6, Williamson 14) Latham manages to scrap another run, off the pads against Cummins. They’re hard won today for Latham. But Williamson, as if to rub it in, flows into a square drive against Cummins for four! Three boundaries already.
7th over: New Zealand 16-1 (Latham 5, Williamson 10) The New Zealand captain starts with a bang! Well, more a caress really, as Williamson eases away back-to-back boundaries to deep backward square from Starc’s full and straight deliveries. Then reaches out for a brace behind point. After the way his teammates have struggled through half a dozen overs. Different player, different pitch, different gravy.
Wicket! Raval c Lyon b Starc 1 (NZ 6-1)
That’s what Starc’s bounce can do. A miserable Test for Raval comes to an end, as the bowler gets lift and it takes the shoulder of the bat and flies out to point where Lyon is waiting. Pace and bounce. At least Raval has batted for a few overs this time, but his score matches what he made in the first innings.
6th over: New Zealand 6-0 (Raval 1, Latham 5) Cummins to Latham, another maiden, though there’s a moment of interest when Latham flicks a ball that hits Travis Head on the shins at short leg. No time for the fielder to react there.
5th over: New Zealand 6-0 (Raval 1, Latham 5) There’s a run at last, as Latham stabs off his pads against Starc. A short leg waits for a catch, along with three slips and a gully. Raval opens the face nicely against Starc on the off stump, playing the ball on the bounce, but just too fine to get past third slip. Starc is left-arm over the wicket to these left-handers, and chanelling it nicely just outside the off stump. Plenty of chat from Matthew Wade spurring his teammates on, you can hear his voice ringing around the ground almost every ball. Five more scoreless deliveries for Raval.
4th over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) Cummins comes around the wicket with a left-handed pair at the crease, and gets a whole over at Raval. The bowler does the disciplined thing, working away at off stump, but Raval defends and leaves competently. NZ haven’t scored since the first over.
3rd over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) Starc hits a crack and the ball flies laterally! It jags sharply away from Latham’s edge, beats the bat by a mile. Very little risk of hitting those, plenty of risk if the ball is at the stumps, like the one that got Dawid Malan at the WACA in 2017. Latham faces out a maiden.
2nd over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) A big appeal as Cummins hits Raval on the thigh pad and it lobs to slip. There was no bat on that, says the umpire, and the Australians belatedly agree. Raval leaves most of the over, though plays at one that’s too close to the edge for comfort. Still, even getting through the first couple of overs might feel like a win for a batsman under siege like him. Time to breathe, regroup, face the next.
1st over: New Zealand 5-0 (Raval 1, Latham 4) Mitchell Starc to start, and he has the pink ball swinging straight away, into the left-handed Raval. This opening pair made one run between them in the first innings. Raval equals that by stabbing a ball off his pads behind square leg and shouting “Yes, Tom!” Through they come. Tom Latham gets off the mark in rather more authoritative fashion, on-driving straight of the diving fielder. Lovely.
New Zealand trail by 463.
Australia declare on 217-9, New Zealand need 486 runs to win
Or two days to bat for a draw. Neither a very likely task. With Starc and his boundary-hitting one, Australia decide not to risk Josh Hazlewood with the bat, and Lyon runs off alongside Starc after the wicket falls. Five and a half sessions left in the Test match.
Australia are obviously likely to win, because even if Starc and Cummins tire they’ll have Lyon to bowl on a wicket that did plenty for him at his first attempt. But even if New Zealand lose here, they’ll get some encouragement out of how they’ve bowled in the second innings here. Once they got on a roll, they’ve dominated Australia really with the ball. A similar story to 2015: they’ve started to compete after being blown out of the water early, and that disparity may be the decisive one in this series result.
Wagner ends with 3-59 to go with his 4-92 in the first innings. He’s bowled an incredible 60 overs, most of it short and hostile, in Perth’s heat. He should be on a drip until Boxing Day. Southee followed 4-93 in the first innings with 5-69 in the second, bowling 51 overs. And Colin de Grandhomme bowled 39 overs while picking up two wickets and going at well under three runs per over. It’s been a commendable performance from a group of bowlers who lost a teammate to injury on the first day.
Australia will be on to bowl without Josh Hazlewood in just a minute.
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Wicket! Starc c Taylor b Southee 23 (Australia 217-9)
Starc goes down swinging, as is his way. Outside off from Southee, back of a length, a big top edge to almost a short third man position where Ross Taylor is waiting. Simple catch. Five wickets for Southee at a cost of 69 runs.
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69th over: Australia 217-8 (Starc 23, Lyon 0)
68th over: Australia 211-8 (Starc 18, Lyon 0) Well, Starc has his go at Southee with the ball as well as verbally now, slamming a shot back that hits the bowler in his follow-through. Hit Southee on the leg but it probably saved four runs, so he may not be too unhappy. Starc slams another one, he’s really lining up the fielders at the moment, and cover can only make a half stop as that ball whistled towards him. One run from the spillover, the only score from the set.
67th over: Australia 210-8 (Starc 17, Lyon 0) Wagner to Starc makes it easy for him first up, a full toss that Starc can swing down the ground for four. Wagner gets back to his usual length, but Starc shows his teammates how it’s done and powers a pull shot away for another! Then a glance off the pads for one, in the air but safe behind square, and Lyon uses his thigh pad in lieu of a bat to deflect a ball to the fine leg fence. “Has he played a shot?” asks Wagner incredulously of Umpire Lalalalallong. Starc meanwhile at the non-striker’s end is in the umpire’s ear complaining about Tim Southee for something or other.
66th over: Australia 197-8 (Starc 8, Lyon 0) Change in the bowling, Tim Southee for the first time today. Starc only knows one way, so he drives Southee aerially straight down the ground for a one-bounce four.
65th over: Australia 192-8 (Starc 3, Lyon 0) Vision from the dressing room shows Josh Hazlewood padded up, so he will bat despite his hamstring twinge. Australia must want to go as late in the day as possible, even if that only means a couple more overs. JH has played a few long supporting innings in his time. Starc versus Wagner is only going to have one approach, lots of short stuff with two bat-pads either side of the wicket, a yorker slipped in amongst it to test him, and eventually an attempted pull shot that limps away for a triplet of runs.
64th over: Australia 189-8 (Starc 0, Lyon 0) Nathan Lyon comes out to join Mitchell Starc, and survives the last ball of de Grandhomme’s over.
Wicket! Wade c Raval b de Grandhomme 17
Another catch off the pull shot! After all that time being tenderised by Wagner, facing de Grandhomme must have felt like a holiday. Wade nails a cover drive for four, carves a wider ball over backward point off the top edge for another, then goes to the well once too often when he gets a half-short ball and spins around for a slap at it. Raval is two-third of the way to the fence and he catches the ball low down while running in. A strange old dismissal, to refuse the shot against Wagner so assiduously and then play it near the end of an already productive over against someone else.
Wicket! Cummins c Watling c Wagner 13
63rd over: Australia 180-7 (Wade 9) Wade is setting up so defensively in his mindset that when Wagner slips and bowls him a high full toss, Wade can only pat it back to the bowler. Wagner tries a knuckle ball and Wade ducks and lets it hit him on the thigh. No chance of a left-hander being lbw to a left-armer bowling around the wicket, everything is pitching well outside leg stump. But finally Wagner pitches up and Wade plays a shot, a single away behind square. That brings Cummins on strike, and probably Wagner doesn’t adjust his line to the right-hander well enough, but it gets him a wicket. Short down the leg side and Cummins gloves his attempted glance through to the keeper. Must be a solid blow to the hand because he’s looking a bit ginger with his right hand as he comes off.
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62nd over: Australia 179-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 13) But while Wade is pursuing his austerity project, Cummins does the scoring at the other end. First he glances de Grandhomme to the fine leg fence, then cuts him through cover for four more! Two bad balls from Colin, who must be aching and creaking after a big bowling workload through the last four days. He’s bowled on each of them.
61st over: Australia 171-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 5) The meat-tenderiser approach continues, Wagner bowling short and Wade taking the hits rather than using the bat. Ricky Ponting is hopping into him on the telly, asking why he isn’t trying to score from these short balls to protect his body. Which seems a touch unfair: once you’ve watched four or five teammates get out doing exactly that, it’s a reasonable conclusion that you should stop playing cross-bat shots.
60th over: Australia 171-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 5) A good battle shaping between Cummins and de Grandhomme. First ball, hits the pad and the bowler appeals but there’s an inside edge. Second ball, looking for the pads again and Cummins drives gloriously through wide mid-on for two! Just timing, that is a top quality shot, though it gets hauled back. Third ball, squares him up and beats the outside edge.
59th over: Australia 169-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 3) Wagner to Wade, who is hit on the glove and that hurts! Wade is a tough character, he stood there and took half a dozen hits on the body last night when the Kiwis were bouncing him and he wanted to preserve his wicket. But this ball has him hopping and yelping reflexively as it crashes into his hand, probably the thumb by the look of things. Wagner is bowling left-arm around the wicket to the left-hander, into the body, and Wade wears another one on the body this morning rather than pulling. A lot of wickets fell to the short ball last night, so he’s just trying to be disciplined. He’s wearing a small forearm guard, covering about half the forearm, and he’s hit there and then around the hip. It’s a maiden, aggressive stuff from Wagner.
58th over: Australia 169-6 (Wade 8, Cummins 3) It’s Colin de Grandhomme to start the day with the ball at medium pace. Pat Cummins to face. The over is accurate, on or around the off stump aside from the last ball, that Cummins can glance fine for two runs.
Australia lead by 419.
Preamble
Day four! And haven’t we had a couple of eventful evening sessions. The Kiwis were knocked over by Australia on the second night of this match, then Australia crashed on the third. The difference is that by that point, Australia were well ahead in the match, so they’re not in much trouble as a result. But it was another top-order collapse, and another low score for Steve Smith.
Australia will resume batting this afternoon six wickets down for 167, which sounds bad except they had a 250-run lead on the first innings. So they’re actually 417 ahead already, and the world record run chase is 418, so safe to say New Zealand won’t be running down whatever the nominal target ends up being.
The main objective for New Zealand today is to make sure Australia can’t hold out with the bat for two sessions. The Kiwis will want to be at the batting crease for a couple of hours before evening comes, so they have set batsman who can get through that more difficult session. But maybe they don’t want to bowl out Australia too quickly, because that leaves more overs for NZ to face. Hmm, dilemmas. Maybe the ideal for NZ is to bowl really tightly, concede nothing much, but not take the final wicket until right on the lunch break.
For Australia, they’ll want to bat past lunch to take daytime overs away from New Zealand. But with only Matthew Wade and the bowlers to bat, that might be a bridge too far. Still, it’s been a nice surface to bat on during the day. Although the cracks are starting to open up.
Realistically, New Zealand’s chances of drawing this Test are not much better than their chances of winning it, but they’re a team that refuses to go away.
