Australia and New Zealand are playing two Tests series as part of World Test Championship. In the first Test at Wellington, New Zealand won the toss and elected to field first. They used the bowling conditions better but Cameron Green(174) played spoilsport with a big hundred. Hence, Australia ended up scoring 383 in the first innings, despite major batters’ failure.
In reply, New Zealand got bundled out for 179 as their major batters failed to score big. Kane Williamson for the first time got run-out in years to make the matters worse for them. Glenn Phillips(71) and Matt Henry(42) tail-end flourish, helped them to even achieve that 179. Nathan Lyon(4/43) stood out for Australia.
But in the second innings, Australia did not find another savior and got bowled out for 164. Nathan Lyon top scored with 41 and Cameron Green(34), Travis Head(29), Usman Khawaja(28) did lend to that score. Glenn Phillips again came good with ball in his hand, this time and took 5/45. Matt Henry(3/36) and Tim Southee(2/46) took other wickets.
New Zealand have started their chase with 369 runs target to win the match. Again Tom Latham and Kane Williamson failed but Rachin Ravindra is anchoring the chase with a well-made 56. He and Daryl Mitchell are holding the hopes of New Zealand with 258 runs still to get. NZ ended the day on 111/3. Meanwhile, Steven Smith has crossed Mark Waugh’s 181 catches record for Australia in Tests. Let’s see how NZ will approach the chase from here on.