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After Australia dominated the first Test match in Brisbane, New Zealand are under pressure to keep the series alive when the two sides meet for the second Test, in Perth. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of Day 1 from 1:00pm (AEDT).
A little under two years ago New Zealand hit a new low, bowled out for just 45 by South Africa in Cape Town.
Since that match the Black Caps have taken many strides forward, but little of their progression was evident in the first Test as they looked closer to the fragile team of years gone by.
Around the same time as South Africa were taking the Kiwis apart, Australia were wrapping up a victorious three-nil Test series against Sri Lanka. The third and final match, in Sydney, saw Michael Hussey retire, and as Hussey departed from Australia’s middle order much of Australia’s batting stability did too.
Even with hugely successful series against England at home and away against South Africa, Australia’s batting order was constantly susceptible to collapses, with the likes of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin regularly bailing their side out of trouble.
With a flurry of retirements at the end of the 2015 Ashes, it seemed Australia’s batting would be more vulnerable than ever heading into the first Test.
But throughout the Test Australia only lost eight wickets and scored 820 runs.
Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja were exceptional on return to the squad, however as they are still settling in, the responsibility must be on the more experienced members.
David Warner in particular seemed to embrace this added responsibility with a superbly paced century in the first innings, as well as another hundred in the second innings to earn him the man of the match award.
The patience Warner displayed early on in his first innings may serve him well in Perth, as it is often a ground where batsmen take time to adapt due to the pace and bounce the pitch offers. Warner made his highest score of 180 in Perth, though to be fair he took little time to get going on that occasion.
Warner also benefited from some sub-standard bowling from the New Zealand attack, who looked well off the pace. Yet while their performance as a bowling unit was poor, it is injuries that will force changes to their squad.
The good news for them is that it seems Tim Southee, who was probably their best bowler in the first Test, will be fit to play after experiencing some back spasms. The bad news is that James Neesham, who was only in the team because of Corey Anderson’s injury, is out for the series with back troubles of his own.
This will cause a restructuring of the New Zealand line-up as they have no pace bowling allrounder to replace Neesham.
Instead, uncapped left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner will likely fill the allrounder slot, with Mark Craig dropped for an extra pace bowler. That bowler will probably be Neil Wagner but Mitchell McClenaghan is also an option if the Black Caps are prepared to field two debutants.
Regardless, it will be a new bowling attack for their team, which puts even more pressure on Southee and Trent Boult.
Returning from injury, Boult was a long way of his best in Brisbane and lacked the accuracy that has made him deadly over the past couple of years. The Kiwis need him to get the most out of the WACA pitch, as there is every chance that Australia’s own left-arm pacers will do just that.
Either way, with the weather looking good and a pitch that generally offers a result before the five days are up, New Zealand have to play considerably better in order to make the day-night Test in Adelaide the decider.
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