AUS vs NZ | Perth Day 2 Talking Points - Neil Wagner toils hard and Aussie pacers put Kiwis to the sword

Workhorse Neil Wagner pushes beyond limits for reduced New Zealand

The inclusion of the uncapped Lockie Ferguson in the playing XI of Perth Test turned out to be the most anticlimactic roundup of things for New Zealand. The debutant only lasted 11 overs before leaving the ground for scans, which would later rule him out of the Test. His departure meant the burden would fall on Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Colin de Grandhomme. But in reality, even though Southee and the 'Big Man' did push harder than they usually do, it was Wagner- the reliable workhorse - who punched above his weight. 

Before Ferguson left for scans, precisely in the first two sessions of Day 1, Wagner had bowled 13 overs. And in the next two, last session of Day 1 and the first session of Day 2, Wagner toiled through by bowling another 18 overs. At that point, he had bowled a minimum of five overs more than his fellow pacemen. That’s what Wagner brings to the table for New Zealand, and he has been doing it for years with or in absence of Trent Boult. And the workhorse tag doesn’t mean he lacks the intelligence of a spearhead. In fact, besides adding advantage to the spearheads’ cause, Wagner has bagged wickets aplenty. And even in this game, he dismissed all the danger men - Warner, Smith and Labuschagne- with varying lengths.

Between overs, between lengths, Wagner bowled non-stop for more than 90 minutes in the first session of Day 2, under the scorching Western Australian heat in Perth. His push-ups before the labour and his over the top celebration after are, thus, justified. 

Australia’s passive approach: a calculated ploy or an opportunity missed? 

To start with, Australia batted at a run rate of 2.84 and that’s okay by usual Test cricket standard. But it’s questionable when the team batting has a significant edge over the opponents. After, unfortunately for Australia, Marnus Labuschagne - just seven runs away from his third consecutive 150 plus score - was handed a goodbye notice by Wagner, Travis Head and Tim Paine formed a comfortable partnership amongst themselves and stopped caring about the run rate. But especially with the captain at the crease and against an opponent like New Zealand, the approach should have ideally been to attack and add more to the total. It’s always more beneficial to post a 500 total in about 160-170 overs than settling for a 400 in 150 overs. 

But Australia were nearing the latter with their pace. To put things into perspective, between Labuschagne’s wicket and Pat Cummins’ dismissal, only 62 runs were scored in 33 overs at a run rate of 1.87. It was only after the advent of Mitchell Starc that the batting picked up some pace, meaning 53 quick runs were added towards the end. 

Australia took 141.5 overs to reach 400 and that makes it only the second instance in two decades where they have taken these many overs or more to score the said milestone in a home Test.  However, in retrospect, it might have been a preconceived plan to delay the innings as much as they could to let the Kiwis bat only under the lights. Well, their plan did work and the New Zealand openers had to face the wrath of one of the best pace attacks in the world. And the worst part is, the visitors won’t even have a response to that as they’re short of a Trent Boult. So, well played Tim Paine?

The Aussie pacers put Kiwi batsmen to the sword

It would’ve been easy, super easy, for the hosts to walk over the Kiwis, who were reduced to 10 members on Day 1 itself. After the Aussies posted a total of 416, the pressure was on the visitors who were coming in to bat during the third session. As it was seen during the game, both Raval and Latham were not up to the mark with their fielding. So to expect the two openers to survive the day would’ve been a farce. And the worst that could’ve happened for New Zealand, happened anyway. With just a single run scored the Kiwis lost two wickets, courtesy the ferocious pacers. The tension was right there from the start as Starc started in the first over.

He graced the ground with a gentle 139kmph delivery to start with and gradually increased pace through the next three deliveries and the length varied too. But the last of the first four deliveries looked so ferocious with some late inswing, with it travelling a mile and Paine taking a huge jump to catch it, that Starc decided to emulate the length in the penultimate delivery of the over. But what made it even deadly was the extra pace on it. Latham, facing the 144kmph delivery, shanked it back to the bowler and Starc made no mistake in bagging the catch. And so the horror started for New Zealand. Next over, Hazlewood bowled a rocketing inswinger at Raval who had no clue that within microseconds his leg stump would be nailed. That was the kind of pressure that the hosts had built. But the world has its way of restoring balance. 

Coming back to bowl his second over, Hazlewood, while taking the run up for the third delivery, the bowler hurt himself on the leg and was seen taking a slow and excruciatingly disappointing walk back. It is learned that the player won’t return to bowl any time soon. But whatever be his fate, after his departure the Kiwis got some air to breathe and the Williamson-Taylor partnership added 76 runs in the next 21 overs.