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Aussie rookies face litmus Tests in New Zealand

9th February, 2016
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Adam Voges hung up his helmet with a ridiculous Test average. (AAP/Dave Hunt)
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9th February, 2016
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Australian Test rookies Adam Voges, Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns enjoyed sterling home summers, but the series against New Zealand starting on Friday will give us a clearer indication of where they stand as Test batsmen.

It is widely expected the pitches in this series will be similar to typical conditions in England, where the Australian batsmen underperformed last winter.

The pitches at Wellington and Christchurch are tipped to test the techniques of batsmen much more than the WACA and Gabba pitches on which Voges, Khawaja and Burns flayed the Kiwi attack.

In such conditions, the Kiwi pace unit of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Matt Henry and Doug Bracewell should thrive.

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The ball will not come easily on to the bat like it did on the Australian Test pitches this summer, Adelaide aside, and may also jag around off the seam.

It is on such decks that Australian batting line-ups repeatedly have floundered in recent years – impatience and hard hands have been punished again and again.

The new-look Australian batting order, minus veterans Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin, have a chance in this series to create a different direction.

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If Australia are to again become the clear number one side in Test cricket, they have to display far greater discipline and determination with the bat away from home.

Newcomers Voges, Khawaja and Burns will find themselves facing heavy scrutiny if they flop in more difficult conditions over the next fortnight. It is one thing to churn out runs on flat decks, but another thing altogether to prosper when conditions favour the bowlers.

That trio will, however, have the advantage of entering this series with confidence and with their spots in the team relatively secure.

The Australian selectors showed great faith in both Khawaja and Burns by not overlooking one of them in order to retain Shaun Marsh after his 182 against the West Indies in Hobart.

Granted, all six home Tests this summer Burns rewarded the selectors with a fine haul of 457 runs at 46, including two tons. The Queenslander shapes as a potential long-term partner for dynamic opener David Warner.

This series in New Zealand will, however, be the first major challenge of his brief Test career. Burns’ main weakness is a tendency to poke at deliveries outside off stump that would be better left alone, and the Kiwi quicks will feel they can exploit this.

Voges had a similar problem in the last Ashes, when his hard hands saw him feed the slips cordon too often. Both he and Burns have been based on fast pitches, in Perth and Brisbane respectively, where there was less need to play the ball late and with soft hands. In New Zealand they will be required to do just that.

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Voges showed late in the Ashes that he can adapt to such conditions, clearly making a greater effort to play deliveries under his eyes and duly prospering, with scores of 51* and 76 in his final two innings in England.

From the first of those two innings onwards, Voges has made an extraordinary 787 runs at 157 in Tests. His last two Test innings are 106* and 269*. He could not be in better form. The same can be said of Khawaja, who is having the summer of a lifetime in all formats.

In three matches against New Zealand in Australia this summer – two Tests and a two-day tour match – Khawaja made scores of 174, 9*, 121 and 111*. Clearly, the Kiwi attack was to his liking.

Khawaja scored freely in each of those innings but likely will need to bat within himself in the New Zealand conditions. Occupying the pivotal first-drop role, the left hander will have to help shield middle-order aces Steve Smith and Voges from the new ball.

New Zealand’s lack of a quality spinner to pose a threat once the ball loses its shine will make the first 30 to 40 overs of each Australian innings all the more important. If they consistently scrap their way through that period, the Kiwis’ spin deficiency can be exposed.

That is no mean feat though – in home conditions Boult and Southee have scythed through many Test batting line-ups, while Henry bowled brilliantly in the ODIs against Australia.

This two-Test series offers Australia, and in particular their new batsmen, the chance to prove they are not just home-track bullies.

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