Having beaten New Zealand 2-0 in the Test series earlier in the summer, Australia headed to Wellington for the first Test of the return series.
For Australia, a series victory would make them the number one ranked Test team in the world. For New Zealand, a series victory would make Australia not the number one ranked Test team.
Plenty at stake for both teams.
Here are the ratings from the first Test between New Zealand and Australia.
More cricket:
» Raw Australian Test team exceeding expectations
» Australian bowlers show the Kiwi attack how it’s done
» Adam Voges, batting ugly but sitting pretty over Bradman
» Watch: Aussies down Kiwis by an innings and 52 runs
» Scorecard: New Zealand vs Australia first Test
First innings collapses
Grade: C
Steve Smith won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first. New Zealand, displaying their usual perfect etiquette, accepted the invitation and then went beyond common courtesy by collapsing for 183 all out.
It wasn’t a great look for New Zealand from the moment in the third over when Tom Latham was caught behind by Peter Nevill, given not out, only to have the Australians review and immediately start celebrating before the third umpire could hit pause/rewind on his remote control.
For many years, the gold standard of appealing has been Stuart Broad’s infamous ‘celebrappeal’, where Broad appeals and celebrates simultaneously. Great work from Josh Hazlewood to top it with a ‘celebreview’.
Your move, Broad.
Usman Khawaja
Grade: A
As well as the Australian bowlers had done, it was important for their fans to not get too cocky. After all, as the saying goes ‘you can’t judge a pitch until both top orders have collapsed on it’.
Australia did their best, losing both Joe Burns and David Warner almost immediately, to leave them at 2/5 in reply.
But New Zealand had merely fallen into the trap of bringing Usman Khawaja to the crease, a strategy that hasn’t helped any opposing teams in recent times.
Khawaja unleashed Khawarnage on the New Zealanders, scoring a lazy 140 runs before Trent Boult finally got him LBW.
Remember when Khawaja first debuted and we were all giddy with delight because he made 37? Innocent times, they were.
No balls
Grade: F
Of course, it was just Usman’s Khawajenius that the Black Caps had to deal with. They were also dealing with his batting partner, Adam Voges, who was proving impossible to dismiss.
Mostly because when they did dismiss him, bowled, the umpire Richard Illingworth incorrectly called a no ball, allowing Voges to bat on and New Zealand fans to complain about somebody other than Nigel Llong.
The decision inspired a flurry of discussion about no balls and how they should be treated in the modern game.
Some suggested that the call should simply be reversed and Voges sent on his way. A bit harsh, perhaps, on the batsman. Batting is difficult enough without umpires shouting and waving their arms about for no good reason just as the ball is being delivered.
Others suggested that no balls should never be called on the field. Which would work too. Batting teams would lose a few extras. But bowlers would also have the occasional wicket taken from them. And that’s never not funny.
Perhaps the best suggestion was one from Cat Jones, during the White Line Wireless radio call, who proposed that the bowler be allowed to overstep by exactly the same amount that the non-striker is backing up, solving both the no ball and Mankad problem in one simple change to the laws.
Personally, I think every umpiring decision should be overseen by a council of elders. Who, in turn, should have their decisions checked by computers. The computers, of course, would be powered by magic and prayers from selected religions. All validated by Channel Nine’s mentalist dude.
Until then, we should remember these decisions even themselves out over time. Why, later in this very Test, Illingworth called a wrong no ball again. Can Australia be blamed if Martin Guptill wasn’t funny enough to lose his wicket to it?
Adam Voges’ average
Grade: A-
The ‘no ball that wasn’t’ allowed Voges to make a double century, along the way ending the second day with an average above one hundred.
Very good averages anger me on a purely definitional level, of course, but as Voges’ average climbed ever higher, people began to think the unthinkable. Is Voges better, people were wondering? Is he actually better than the man with the highest Test average of them all, Andy Ganteaume?
Or even Don Bradman?
And if Voges decided to retire with an average above one hundred, how would we explain to future fans that we spent literally his whole career talking about which of Joe Root, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Kane Williamson was the best batsman? Those future fans would look at the record books and think we were morons. And rightly so, of course.
The problem was circumvented when Voges was the last man dismissed for Australia, dropping his average to 97.46, proving that, just maybe, Bradman is better than Voges after all.
A nonsense, of course. I don’t care what the numbers say. Voges is a much better batsman than Bradman. The latter’s dead, for one thing.
Mythological creatures
Grade: C
Dismissed for 562, New Zealand needed 379 to make Australia bat again. But Smith had a mythical creature up his sleeve – the legendary gryphon, the Lyon-Bird creature first seen in Ancient Egypt.
And while the Jackson Bird portion of Operation Gryphon took only the one wicket, Nathan Lyon finished with four, as New Zealand, perhaps under the mistaken impression that Lyon’s new nickname was Cecil, looked to attack him at every opportunity.
In the end, they were bowled out for 327, giving Australia victory by an innings and 52 runs as they head to Christchurch for the second Test. It will be fascinating to see what kind of incorrect umpire decision costs them that game. I’m tipping a low-catch controversy.
Nathan Lyon believes Australia would have won the 2023 Ashes series 4-0 if he hadn't broken down with injury. But the veteran spinner says…
Australia have reclaimed top spot in the ICC's Test rankings, replacing India. Despite not playing since winning 2-0 in New Zealand in March, Pat…
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
Mitch Marsh has been appointed as Australia's men's Twenty20 captain, set to lead a squad to the World Cup that does not include Steve…
Australia are set to turn their back on rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk’s whirlwind IPL form and drop Steve Smith in their T20 World Cup…
