Australia is in a commanding position to claim the first Test of the series against New Zealand in Wellington despite enduring a testing second innings on an entertaining day of cricket.
Nightwatchman Nathan Lyon got the tourists off to a strong start on Saturday when scoring 41, but that proved to the best performance from an Australian batsman as New Zealand spinner Glenn Phillips produced a career-best performance with the ball to take 5-45 from 16 overs.
Khawaja removes dove from new bat | 00:44
The Australians were bowled out in the second session for 164, but that was still enough to set New Zealand a record-breaking chase at Basin Reserve of 369 runs given the disparity between the first innings for both countries.
To recap, after being sent into bat, Australia scored 383, with Cameron Green unbeaten on 174, and then bowled New Zealand out for 179 on Friday.
The New Zealand top-order fared better on Saturday afternoon than they did on Friday, with Rachin Ravindra in particular superb when recording his first half-century against Australia. But they still face a massive task on Sunday.
New Zealand are 3-111, with Ravindra unbeaten on 56 and Daryl Mitchell on 12. They need another 258 runs for victory.
Lyon declared it was “a great day of Test cricket”.
“Rachin seems like a pretty good player … and he is going to be a superstar. Credit where credit is due, he played very well there,” he said.
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Two-in-two! Kiwi offie jags big wickets | 00:48
PART-TIMER NO LONGER: PHILLIPS’ 16-YEAR FIRST
New Zealand chose not to pick a strike spinner for the Wellington Test but it turns out that they didn’t need one.
Glenn Phillips, who had only taken 25 wickets in his previous 109 matches for New Zealand, ripped the heart out of Australia’s middle order on day three at the Basin Reserve, finishing with career-best figures of 5-45.
The off-spinner, who screwed the ball sideways at times during 16 consecutive overs on Saturday, became the first New Zealand tweaker to take a five-wicket haul in a home Test since 2008.
He is the first Kiwi to manage the feat in Wellington since Daniel Vettori, who is now a member of the Australian coaching staff, in 2006.
“Three years ago, Glenn Phillips was a wicketkeeper,” former New Zealand batter Craig McMillan said in commentary.
“In three years, he’s turned himself into an international off-spinner. He’s been seen as a part-timer for quite a while. I hope his bowling today erases that.”
Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey threw their wickets away with needlessly reckless shots at wide deliveries. Khawaja was stumped and Head holed out to long-off, while Carey slapped the Kookaburra directly towards rival captain Tim Southee at cover.
‘Gone all Imran Tahir’: Phillips’ 5-fa! | 01:44
However, Phillips can take full credit for the dismissals of all-rounders Cameron Green and Mitchell Marsh, who were both caught at bat-pad by Will Young.
“Those are big scalps. Big scalps,” former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said in commentary.
“They needed someone to stand up today. They needed someone to come in and take this game by the scruff of the neck and that is what Glenn Phillips has done.”
Incredibly, Phillips wasn’t thrown the ball in the first innings, with Southee preferring the services of young tweaker Rachin Ravindra.
Speaking to reporters at stumps on day two, Phillips confessed he would have loved the opportunity to bowl in Australia’s first innings, but confessed the match-ups didn’t warrant his off-spin at the time.
“I’m always putting my hand up for a bowl,” smirked Phillips, who top-scored for New Zealand in the first innings with a counterpunching 71.
“I’m always keen to have a bowl. Maybe in the second innings I might get a bit of a go.”
On the eve of the opening Test match of the series, former Kiwi wicketkeeper and Fox Cricket pundit Ian Smith said the missing link for New Zealand was a champion spinner.
“Somehow we need to try to develop a Nathan Lyon,” he told Fox Cricket’s Follow On podcast.
“Where the hell we get one from, (I don’t know), because we’ve been trying for 30 years since I have been around. They haven’t quite found that kind of quality and I think that’s is a must for us.”
It remains to be seen whether it was a cameo to remember for Phillips, or whether he can become far more than a part-timer, but it was a day for him to remember.
“It’s an absolute dream come true,” Phillips said.
“I never thought it would be in home conditions … to be able to take a fifer. I definitely thought it was going to be more in the subcontinent. It’s a pretty surreal moment for me at the moment.”
SLIP-SHOD FIELDING ADDS TO THE KIWI CHALLENGE
Shoddy fielding from New Zealand was a factor in Australia’s domination of the Kiwis in the T20 series preceding the Test series and the scourge has continued in Wellington.
The Kiwis have offered Australia the warmest of welcomes by dropping catches and gifting extras by the dozens, contributions gratefully received by the tourists in challenging conditions.
Prior to the Test, former wicketkeeper Ian Smith told foxsports.com.au that it was critical for New Zealand to snare their chances in order to stay with the Australians.
“I just hope we go back to our recipe, which is bowling straight, bowling tight and holding catches, which I think is hugely important,” he said.
“Don’t give Australian batsman second opportunities. We saw Pakistan do that (in the summer) and we all know what happened there.”
Unfortunately for the hosts, they were unable to follow the advice.
New Zealand captain Tim Southee scarcely did the Kiwis hopes of pulling off a massive comeback in the second innings any favours by dropping two regulation chances.
On the final ball of Day 2, the Kiwi skipper spilt a chance in the slips cordon when Nathan Lyon was on six.
When play resumed on Saturday, the nightwatchman added another 35 runs in a valuable contribution to Australia’s second innings tally before falling to Matt Henry for 41.
Southee was then bowling shortly after lunch on Saturday when he lured Cameron Green into a straight drive that went straight through the captain’s his hands at a catchable height.
The Australian No. 4, who made an unbeaten 174 in the first innings, was on 22 at the time in the second innings. He went on to add another 12 runs before falling to Glenn Phillips for 34.
Nor was he the sole offender in the field, with Scott Kuggeljein also dropping a couple of chances, including that of Australian captain Pat Cummins in the second innings.
Substitute fieldsman Henry Nicholls also offered the Australian captain a life when he dropped him soon after Kuggeljein’s spill on the boundary, allowing him another four runs.
“It is what we said last night. How many extra runs does this add to the chase for New Zealand,” former Kiwi wicketkeeper Katey Martin said.
“Those runs are important. If New Zealand had taken a couple of those opportunities, they might be chasing 380.”
It followed the lack of discipline in the first innings when New Zealand gifted Australia 41 extras, which was the second biggest contribution to the innings after Green’s century.
The Kiwis were far tighter in this regard in the second innings, but effectively the mistakes gifted Australia almost another century of runs which were clearly handy in the context of the Test.
‘CRACKS IN AUSTRALIAN BATTING’ STILL CLEARLY EVIDENT
Speaking of shoddy, that label can be applied to the approach of many of Australia’s vaunted top-order as their struggle for rhythm and form continues.
Marnus Labuschagne’s struggle for with the bat is clear and both he and Steve Smith were back in the pavilion on Friday night after a difficult opening to the second innings.
With due respect to Nathan Lyon, who did a fine job as nightwatchman on Friday night and then rode his luck on Saturday to reach 41, that he top-scored is an indictment on his mates in the top-order.
Of the 547 runs scored by Australia in Wellington, Cameron Green contributed 208 runs at No.4. The Australian bowling attack added another 114 runs in the two innings. And the Kiwis offered up 47 extras, with the majority coming in the first innings.
This meant the remaining five members of the Australian top order, along with wicketkeeper Alex Carey, made 178 runs at an average of 14.8 in two innings in the first three days.
It is indisputable that the conditions at Basin Reserve have made life difficult for batting.
The pitch was green and conducive to seam on the opening day on Thursday, with Matt Henry managing to snare five wickets for the Kiwis in Australia’s first innings.
On Friday it became clear that it was taking significant spin with Lyon snaring four wickets for Australia. And Phillips provided further proof of that on Saturday when snaring his first five wicket haul in a Test match.
But former New Zealand wicketkeeper Katey Martin noted during the tea break; “With due respect to Glenn Phillips, he is a part-timer.” The Aussies made him look a world-beater.
Usman Khawaja, who opened with patience in both innings when making 33 and 28, finally lost that poise when charging at Phillips after being restricted for a period by the Kiwis. He was deceived by the flight of the ball and stumped as a result.
Travis Head looked better at the crease and moved rapidly to 29, only to lose his wicket when holing out to Scott Kuggeljein in the outer. His disgust at the shot that he played was evident.
Alex Carey, too, fell cheaply once again and is another who will be keen to fire in the second Test after showing semblances of his best form with the bat during the Aussie summer.
Former English captain Michael Vaughan said prior to the series he had spotted clear cracks in the Australian top-order through the home series against Pakistan and the West Indies.
It is a position that is difficult to argue despite Australia holding the upper-hand in Wellington.
THE AUSTRALIANS FIND THEIR NEXT TARGET
The Australian top order, Cameron Green aside, are not alone in their struggles in Wellington.
Moments before Nathan Lyon snared the wicket of New Zealand champion Kane Williamson, former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was talking tactics.
It is part of the Australian cricket psyche to identify the biggest opposition threat as the player to target in every single Test series and Williamson is clearly that for the Kiwis, despite the recent excellence of Rachin Ravindra.
It does not always work but so far, so good for the Australians in this series when it comes to Williamson, who has 32 Test match centuries to his name.
The 33-year-old entered this series as the danger man after scoring an unbeaten century in his most recent Test, admittedly against the weak South African team.
The Test prior he scored a century in both innings against the South Africans in Mount Maunganui. And in 13 Test innings last year, he managed to make five centuries, including a fine ton against England.
Williamson helped Australia out on Friday when embroiled in a farcical run-out in which he collided with Will Young during an ambitious attempt to get off the mark.
On Saturday Williamson failed to cope with the spin and bounce of Australian champion Nathan Lyon. He faced an appeal on his first ball, but a DRS review showed that he had failed to connect with a swipe to a delivery from the off-spinner that was going down leg side.
But his reprieve was only temporary, with the Kiwi talisman featuring a catch to Steve Smith, who was fielding at leg slip, when on nine.
LYON KEEPS UNWANTED TEST RECORD
Tim Southee’s dropped catch proved more costly than New Zealand would have hoped.
On the final delivery of day two, the New Zealand skipper put down a dolly at third slip, gifting Nathan Lyon an extra life on six.
And the veteran off-spinner made the most of the reprieve on Saturday morning, notching the second-highest score of his Test career while also top-scoring for Australia in the second innings.
Lyon’s 41 featured a plenty of edges through gully and the slips cordon, but also some elegant pull shots and clips through mid-wicket. In the 15th over, he struck three consecutive boundaries from the bowling of Southee, rubbing further salt into the wound caused by the previous evening’s blunder.
However, Lyon’s cameo came to an end in the following over when he clipped a delivery from Black Caps seamer Matt Henry towards mid-wicket, where Will Young held onto a smart catch.
The New South Welshman fell nine runs short of a long-awaited maiden Test half-century, which meant he held onto a somewhat unwanted record.
Lyon has comfortably scored the most Test runs without a fifty, still sitting ahead of West Indies seamer Kemar Roach on the standings.
Most Test runs without a fifty
1501 – Nathan Lyon (AUS)
1174 – Kemar Roach (WI)
1010 – Waqar Younis (PAK)
981 – Fred Trueman (ENG)
944 – Morne Morkel (RSA)
Earlier in the Wellington Test, Lyon leapfrogged West Indies legend Courtney Walsh to become Test cricket’s seventh most prolific wicket-taker.
The off-spinner claimed four wickets in the first innings, pushing his career tally to 521, and has already snared another couple in the second innings.
The next target for Lyon, who is keen to continue bowling for at least the next couple of years, is Australian icon Glenn McGrath on 563 scalps.
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