Key events
Australia win by 172 runs! (New Zealand 196 all out)
That’s it. A chastening morning for New Zealand who had some hope two hours ago but have succumbed rather tamely before lunch. Hazlewood spears in a bouncer that Mitchell plops back for a simple caught and bowled. Australia go to Christchurch 1-0 up.
64th over: New Zealand 196-9 (Mitchell 38, O’Rourke 0) Some Brian Lara Cricket Playstation fields to O’Rourke who has a whole gaggle of Aussies for company around him. I think that is the correct collective noun? O’Rourke survives and we’ll press on. Plod on. Pootle on. We’re pressing on, ok?
63rd over: New Zealand 195-9 (Mitchell 37, O’Rourke 0) Hazlewood continues and Mitchell is content to block him out and take a single toward the end of the over. Penny for his thoughts.
62nd over: New Zealand 194-9 (Mitchell 36, O’Rourke 0) Oh yeh, Daryl Mitchell is still at the crease. He’s been a bystander to the carnage this morning.
WICKET! Southee c Starc b Lyon 7 (New Zealand 194-9)
Lyon has six second innings wickets which makes it ten in the match. Southee loses his shape in the act of trying to smear another biggie, Mitch Starc takes the catch on the fence. Just one more needed for Australia, a clinical morning’s work for the World Test Champs.
The news is that Will O’Rourke will bat “if needed”. Right you are, think you might be Billy old boy. Tim Southee is the new batter and he wastes absolutely no time in launching a SIX down the ground. A Southee special… but hang on…
WICKET! Henry c Smith b Hazlewood 14 (New Zealand 187-8)
Josh Hazelwood into the attack for the first time today and he does the business with his fourth ball – nicking Henry off into the velcro hands of Steve Smith in the cordon.
61st over: New Zealand 188-8 (Mitchell 36, Southee 1)
60th over: New Zealand 186-7 (Mitchell 35, Henry 14) Here we go then. Mitchell pumps down the ground for four and then takes a single. Anything you can do… Henry bunts a flighted ball from Lyon back over his head for SIX.
“Jimbo – yes, deflation is one way of putting it. Welcome to our world. There is no sound quite like the mirthless laughter of the NZ cricket supporter raking over the detritus from yet another imminent Test defeat to Australia. The weird thing is NZ are number 1 on the ICC test champs ranking. Our percentage of wins is 75%, bolstered in part by the fact we play relatively few Tests as nobody really wants to play us. [Cue mirthless laughter] My only comfort is that the current Australian spinning coach, ex NZ capt Dan “Coriolanus” Vettori was absent the only time this century we beat Australia, in Hobart 2011. [More mirthless LOL]. Yesterday we had the Verve. Today I’m going to make a plug for Bowie’s Always Crashing in the Same Car.”
Cheers and condolences to David Griffiths in Tokyo, this one’s for you:
59th over: New Zealand 175-7 (Mitchell 30, Henry 8) A brief hiatus after Mitchell is clocked on the helmet by a Green short ball. He’s checked over and is good to continue. Henry on strike to Green… four runs spawned away off the inside edge. Feet in cement from the seamer and an aimless waft. That’s more like it, the feet go nowhere again but Henry don’t need ‘em as he leans into a full ball and slaps it through cover for four.
58th over: New Zealand 166-7 (Mitchell 30, Henry 0) No signs of pyro just yet. A single to Mitchell off Lyon’s latest.
57th over: New Zealand 165-7 (Mitchell 29, Henry 0) Matt Henry is the new batter, he gave it some humpty in the first innings. I wonder if Daryl Mitchell will decide to tee off now? A Stokesian rampage is surely the only option. Do it Daryl. Do it.
WICKET! Kuggeleijn c Carey b Green 26 (New Zealand 164-7)
Gone! Kuggeleijn’s bit of fun comes to an end as Green gets a brute of a ball to rasp onto the glove and it loops to Carey to take a simple catch. This is such a shame, despite the now very real prospect of an earlier night than I’d bargained for, I for one am deflated.
56th over: New Zealand 160-6 (Mitchell 29, Kuggeleijn 22) Huge turn and bounce from Lyon and the ball rips through the gate that Kuggeleijn left open like a careless rambler. The ball missed everything and rolls away for four byes. A thick outside edge brings two more. New Zealand still need a notional 209 runs to win, but that ain’t happening. Australia need four more wickets.
55th over: New Zealand 151-6 (Mitchell 28, Kuggeleijn 18) Cam Green is summoned to turn his tree trunk sized arm over. His first bowl of the match. Can New Zealand make it through to lunch?
54th over: New Zealand 149-6 (Mitchell 27, Kuggeleijn 16) Time for a drink. Fair to say that the all important first hour belongs to Australia and Nathan Lyon.
MOST FIVE-WICKET HAULS in TESTS for AUSTRALIA
37 Shane Warne
29 Glenn McGrath
24 NATHAN LYON
23 Dennis Lillee
21 Clarrie Grimmett#NZvAUS— Richard V Isaacs (@RVICricketStats) March 2, 2024
53rd over: New Zealand 145-6 (Mitchell 26, Kuggeleijn 15) Bosh! Kuggeleijn pulls a Cummins bouncer away for four. Fair to say the atmos has been sucked out of the Basin.
52nd over: New Zealand 139-6 (Mitchell 25, Kuggeleijn 10) Kuggeleijn isn’t going to die wondering by the looks of it. Consecutive sweeps bring him two boundaries off Lyon.
51st over: New Zealand 131-6 (Mitchell 25, Kuggeleijn 2) Cummins nearly gets another as Kuggeleijn inside edges a rising ball just wide of the short leg.
50th over: New Zealand 126-6 (Mitchell 24, Kuggeleijn 1) Scott Kuggeleijn is the new man and he gets off the mark off his first ball with a push down the ground. Lyon has snaffled three wickets in ten balls this morning. Surely just a matter of time now.
WICKET! Phillips lbw b Lyon 1 (New Zealand 129-6)
Bad, meet Worse. Phillips is pinned stone dead in front to one that skids on. He reviews in vain and stomps off before the three reds seal his fate. Marais Erasmus gave that out quicker than a wild west gunslinger and rightly so.
49th over: New Zealand 126-5 (Mitchell 24, Phillips) It’s all on Mitchell and Phillips now as the last two recognised batters for New Zealand. A single to each man, the Kiwis need a whole lot more. They need rain and they need it now.
48th over: New Zealand 126-5 (Mitchell 24, Phillips) My oh my. Nathan Lyon has ripped a hole in the Kiwi batting card in the space of six balls. Both dismissals were definitely avoidable though, that’ll be what galls both dismissed batters.
All credit to Nathan Lyon, but that’s a soft over of batting from New Zealand#NZvAUS
— Andrew McGlashan (@andymcg_cricket) March 2, 2024
WICKET! Blundell c Head b Lyon 0 (New Zealand 126-5)
Two in the over for Lyon and New Zealand’s hopes lie in tatters. Tom Blundell gets a three ball duck and is dismissed in the exact same way he was in the first innings – an inside edge ballooning off the pad to gift Travis Head an absolute lollipop at short leg.
WICKET! Ravindra c Green b Lyon 59 (New Zealand 126-4)
Sucker punch! Ravindra flays a cut into the off side, the same off side that has a short point in place for exactly that stroke. The batter doesn’t get over the ball and Cam Green swallows the catch.
47th over: New Zealand 126-3 (Ravindra 59, Mitchell 24) Pat Cummins replaces Lyon, it could be a change of ends for the spinner, a result of the wind swirling around the basin. Don’t do that! Very nearly another calamitous run out for New Zealand as Ravindra calls Mitchell through for an extremely tight single… Marnus swoops and releases on the run but the throw just misses the stumps. I think that was sayonara with a direct hit. Ah, that’ll settle the nerves. Mitchell stands tall and punches for three through the covers. Ravindra then nurdles a much more comfortable single into the leg side.
46th over: New Zealand 121-3 (Ravindra 57, Mitchell 21) Shot! Starc drops short and wide and Mitchell does not miss out – rocking back and freeing the shoulders to cut for four. Another short ball is fended into the leg side for a couple.
45th over: New Zealand 115-3 (Ravindra 57, Mitchell 14) Lyon twirls away with a leg slip in place. Mitchell punches a single. A quiet start to the day so far. New Zealand won’t mind that.
44th over: New Zealand 114-3 (Ravindra 57, Mitchell 13) Starc is full and there’s some movement in the air. Mitchell defends before nudging a single down the ground. It really does look grey in Wellington. Maybe my ma and pa’s TV brightness is out of whack but the sky looks the colour of a Logan Roy cashmere from where I’m sat.
Paul Cockburn sends us a flavour from the Basin bleachers:
“A warm welcome from a slightly muggy, a bit of damp in the air Wellington. Not much breeze, not much chance of sun. The Basin pitch is a belter.
This match has felt like it was *over* several times on Days 2 & 3. Odds are still massively with Australia. But we can dream here on these islands, right?”
Dream away Paul, and maybe keep a cagoule handy?
43rd over: New Zealand 113-3 (Ravindra 57, Mitchell 13) Nathan Lyon kicks up his heels and trots into his action. Ravindra gives himself some space by backing off to the leg side and gliding past point for a single. Mitchell tries a reverse sweep but doesn’t get hold of it but takes a quick single off the next ball to keep the strike rotating. A wise move against Lyon, you don’t want to get stuck and let him work you over.
“Evening Jimbo. Prediction time. I favour Australia by 100 runs, though am hoping New Zealand by one wicket, but would settle for a tie. What say you?”
Simon McMahon is putting me on the spot. I’ll plump for a joyous New Zealand victory some time after tea… but then I would say that as I can edit these posts and so will just go back and delete it in order to keep some semblance of professional integrity. What? Yeh, that’s what I thought you said.
42nd over: New Zealand 111-3 (Ravindra 56, Mitchell 12) Mitchell Starc prowls at the top his mark before setting off and steaming in under leaden skies. Daryl Mitchell is watchful, defending stoutly and leaving the ball well outside off stump. A maiden to begin the day. Lyon is going to start his shift from the other end.
The players are readying on the boundary edge of the Basin Reserve. It looks very overcast and blustery but the radar says it should remain dry. CLICHE KLAXON! A big first hour coming up… let’s play.
Australia are definitely favourites at the moment but in Ravindra and Mitchell New Zealand have two proven performers at the crease. The former lit up the World Cup a few months ago and recently racked up 240 runs against South Africa (albeit their significantly under strength side) he has all the shots and an ice cool temperament to boot. Daryl Mitchell has had a prolific few years in the longest format and is averaging comfortably over 50 from his 21 Test matches. The lion’s share of the runs will have to come from the collective blade of this pair and the two men to follow – Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips. They are an outside chance, but a chance all the same.
How much warmth is in your heart, eh?
The kind of morning and match situation when the level of your romance as a neutral Test cricket lover gets tested. Is there enough warmth in your heart to dream of the unthinkable or are you struggling to think past the pragmatic expectation of an early finish #NZvAus pic.twitter.com/I8j1PGtCH4
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) March 2, 2024
Pitch fans! Here’s the pitch:
Catch up on all the action from day three right here:
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the day four OBO of New Zealand v Australia from Wellington’s Basin Reserve (by way of my parents’ sofa in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England).
The forecast rain has held off and the game is delicately poised – Glenn Phillips twirled his way to a maiden five wicket haul in Test match cricket and bowled Pat Cummins’ World Test champions out for just 164 in their second innings. Leaving an imposing but outside-chance-gettable target of 369 for the Kiwis in the final dig.
At 35-2 and then 59-3 it looked like curtains for the Kiwis yesterday afternoon but a fightback from the brilliant Rachin Ravindra and brutish Daryl Mitchell saw the home side close on 111-3. They will arrive at the crease in just over thirty minutes time needing the small matter of 237 more runs in order to pull off a spectacular heist and go 1-0 up in the two Test series.
Somewhat more likely – Australia need seven wickets to secure victory and have Nathan Lyon licking his lips and tweaking his fingers on a pitch that is providing plenty of assistance.
Play will begin in Wellington at 11am local time, 9am AEDT and 10pm in Bakewell. How do you see this one going? Email or tweet @Jimbo_Cricket with your missives and musings. It promises to be an intriguing first session, let’s dive in.