The first Test is in the history books, won convincingly by Australia in under four days.
There are lots of points to take from this game, both positive and negative for both teams.
The Black Caps need to sort out their attack. There’s no doubt Neil Wagner and Tim Southee in particular justified the adjectives being used to described their efforts in both innings – courageous, lion-hearted, never gave up, kept up the pressure et cetera3.
The fact is that this attack took more than 146 overs to dismiss Australia in the first innings and another 69 overs to take nine wickets in the second. That’s on what’s likely to be the most bowler-friendly wicket they’ll see in this three-Test series.
Yes, they were a bowler down, but so was Australia, yet Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, with good support from their part-timers, managed to take 20 wickets on the same pitch in just over 120 overs.
(Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The Black Caps’ batting will not only be better for the hit out in Perth, but they will likely encounter more batting-friendly conditions in Melbourne and Sydney. This should result in much more competitive totals than we saw out west.
The problem they have is Australia also gets to use the same batting-friendly conditions, and it’s not likely players like David Warner and Steve Smith, who didn’t really get going in this Test, will not cash in. The Black Caps could attack could be in for some long days in the field in the next two Tests.
The Black Caps selection process has come back to bite them. Ian Smith in commentary made the remark that a month ago the Kiwi selectors chose a Test squad for five Tests, the two recently completed against England and the current series. These selections obviously worked well enough at home, but they are likely to be a real problem over the next three weeks.
They have issues at opener but have no backup batsman, only Tom Blundell, a wicketkeeper who has played a couple of Tests. Their options are limited – Blundell might come in and open, a big ask against this attack when he’s a middle-order batsman. Perhaps they’ll play him as keeper and move BJ Watling to open given how he batted in the Black Caps second innings. Maybe the skipper has to open.
As Ronan O’Connell alluded to in his piece about Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Santner is simply not getting enough penetration with his bowling. But their only other spin option is Todd Astle, and he’s considered a bowler of lesser ability.
Trent Boult will come back into the team, but do they play Lockie Ferguson if he’s fit and leave the spinners out together? Or maybe have Jeet Raval drop down the order and play him as a spinner? At least he took a wicket in Perth!
Lyon’s lack of confidence isn’t helping him. Throughout the Test summer Lyon has bowled really well without luck, and Sunday was no exception. He returned match figures of six for 111 off 36 overs but could have had a couple more if a sharp chance had gone to hand and a catch behind had been referred.
Although he’s clearly bowling well, he’s got to sort out his field placings. The Black Caps were never going to chase down 467, especially after he dismissed Kane Williamson, yet Lyon persisted with four and five guys in the deep on a pitch that was offering him some pretty generous support.
This trait of setting defensive fields is something he and Tim Paine need to address. There was no reason why he should not have plenty of guys around the bat from ball one. When he did get guys in close he got wickets.
None of the bowlers should be rested despite it being about now in the Australian Test summer when Justin Langer and co seem to think someone in the fast bowling line-up needs a spell. Hopefully the injury to Josh Hazlewood, while unfortunate, will convince them to leave Starc and Cummins alone.
Both quicks got through 34 and 33 overs respectively, which is not a huge workload by Test standards, and have given themselves an extra day’s rest. Both look really keen to bowl. Bring in James Pattinson, who’ll be jumping out of his skin to bowl and let them loose on Boxing Day.
Matty Wade has to find a less painful way of facing Neil Wagner. In scenes reminiscent of Bodyline, Matthew Wade decided that allowing Neil Wagner short deliveries to hit him was going to be his batting method for part of his innings. Message to Wade: that might work once, but it’s not sustainable for another four innings. Find another way to combat Wagner’s methods.
Astle will replace Satner. He is a good quality leggie, and frankly, a better all round cricketer than Santner, who is one of those "favourites" of the selectors , that gets picked and no one knows why...Hamilton was a bit of a fluke. That is the only time in tests he has played that well, and he got shown up at Perth as nothing but a stock bowler.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
Scoring over 200 might be NZ biggest concern.....
Lara
Guest
No doubt they need Boult, they also need a spinner who can take wickets, but they desperately need an opener at the top of the order to blunt the opposition n score a few runs . All three were lacking in Perth n batting at the wrong end of the day did not help. The Kiwis are definitely underdogs n will need some luck , but they showed some ticker n worked until they just ran out of energy in the Perth sun. Not hopeless.
Capt Jack
Roar Rookie
That was great theatre between Wade and Wagner. A bit of fun. Two bulls in the paddock. I suspect the inconsistent bounce at night had a bit to do with the batting method. Attacking shots were being mis hit to fields men and defensive shots popping up. It also made a statement the bowlers speed wasn’t intimidating. I hope Wade makes a go of it now that he’s given the gloves away - he’s a character in a too often bland world.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Yes, that’s what I was saying- despite some people saying the pitch was a bit flat at the beginning, lots of wickets fell cheaply.
Patrick
Roar Rookie
I always had a soft spot for Richard Chee Quee though he played no tests. A lot harder to play for Australia though.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
can't be that boring if theres a result , australia just got outplayed. lyon got one wicket (I'm guessing there was less bounce) and jadeaja was still able to spin it well enough for a bag of wickets in the test. I do wonder if swepson would be more suited per his 7 wicket haul in shield if its not bouncy enough for lyon (like perth/Adelaide DNs and brissie) . If its moving about and bouncing I'm happy enough with the four pronged bowling attack with lyon in but last year wasn't good for lyon or starc actually. Cummins took most of the wickets followed by hazel wood last year
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Yep, there were comments about a boring pitch after the first couple of days last year then Australia were rolled for 150 and India declared at 8/106 in the second innings.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
The Nz team is no less diverse than Australia’s, probably more diverse. Only a tiny percentage of our Test and first class players have had predominantly non- Anglo-Irish heritage, and the few that haven’t usually had Germanic/Dutch/French Huguenot background. The only obvious exceptions in the Test team - Khawaja, Len Pascoe (née Durtanovich), Michael Kaszprowicz. I guess it stands out a bit more in NZ with such a big Maori/Islander population.
Patrick
Roar Rookie
Hi Dutski, Look at any professional rugby union team in NZ or the Warriors and you will get it straight away. Cricket obviously has some cultural issues in NZ in terms of who it connects with. Do not misunderstand me, I am not implying that 1) Cricketers did not earn their spot in the national team in NZ, or that there should be a racial criteria ever, or 2) A conspiracy of NZers are trying to keep the Islander races out of professional cricket. But there are some obvious issues going on there.
Dutski
Roar Guru
Patrick what do you mean about the team being undiverse?
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
For me one of the keys to our success in Perth was the fact that our batsmen got on top of Santner early. Not only was he non-threatening, he also leaked runs and made it difficult for the Kiwi's to keep the pressure up for long periods. It allowed our bats to comfortably sit on the bowling at the other end and take their runs off Santner. Pressure on, pressure off. .. That's all well and good but I'll be very surprised if the Aussies aren't keen to add another bowler to the 'no worries' list and the obvious target for that nearly has to be de Grandhomme. Now that they've had a good look at him I think they'll be working on ways to minimise his effectiveness if not actually belt him out of the picture. It's probably not going to be easy to achieve but if it does turn out that way the Kiwi's will be in a whole world of trouble. It's just not viable for any test team to rock up with 2 bowlers who are going for runs and not taking wickets.
JamesH
Roar Guru
The Kiwis desperately need Boult to be fit because it doesn't sound like Ferguson will be. I don't think they'll push Santner out, given that they already have a fourth seamer in de Granhomme and neither Henry nor Astle is going to be a better option. As for Lyon's field settings, I've been critical of how defensive they are at times but I'm not sure where you're getting 'four and five guys in the deep' from. I don't recall ever seeing more than four out for him. Even then, the four-out ploy was only to de Granhomme and it was a deliberate plan to take away his down the ground release shot and make him hit across the line. To most batsmen he only ever had one or two on the boundary and there was always a slip, at least one fielder under the lid and a catcher at either cover or mid-wicket.
Slane
Guest
Your constant denigration of New Zealand cricket says far more about you than any of the men who took the field.
Slane
Guest
I think this test has really highlighted the difference in size between or two countries. Australia seems to have a whole stable of fast bowlers capable of bowling over 140kmph, New Zealand had one.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Hard to tell what MCG will be like , it may offer a bit more than last year although lets not forget last year India got a win, there was a result , australia were beaten after a good win in perth. If NZ wins the toss, boult comes in and does well they will be suited a bit more than perth thats for sure and won't be out for the first two days in 40c heat after a 7 days nz turn around . Red ball balances things up after pink ball. Aussies favored but mcg hasn't been its best ground in recent years , no matter what the pitch is like.
Azza
Roar Rookie
Don’t forget day 1 , pitch was slowish and pancake flat, 40 deg, hardly a bowlers dream , Australia cashed in. NZ will be better for the run, call it a warmup. We are in for a bore fest again at MCG unfortunately, does anyone seriously want to see Davey get 200+ on a road, and perform that stupid jig? Spare us.
Sylvester
Guest
"But their only other spin option is Todd Astle, and he’s considered a bowler of lesser ability." Not really. The NZ selectors have opted for Santner because he's capable of tying up an end on the non-turning home pitches and can bat a bit. Their respective first-class bowling records are night and day.
Patrick
Roar Rookie
Bowling is not NZ's biggest concern... Not even the selection apartheid or whatever goes on to produce a very undiverse team... NZ's biggest problem is that the rest of the cricket world is going to realise that what was a tolerable annoyance(NZ being able to field a professional cricket team when they are qualitively worse than most Australian state teams) is going to become painfully obvious over the summer.
Matt P
Roar Rookie
Think the comments about NZ’s bowling are right on the mark here. I’m really curious as to how they’ll adjust to the less bowler-friendly conditions. At least with Starc and Cummins we have bowlers who can strike regardless of unhelpful pitch conditions. Who do NZ turn to? The other point I’m interested in whether Wagner will be as successful going forward. To me it seemed that there was extra and often inconsistent bounce in Perth, and that was what undid the Aussie batsmen - they’re all normally good players of the short ball. Are bodyline-esque tactics going to work when the batsmen can trust the bounce and the Kiwis have to bang it in even shorter? As for the spinner, is Somerville not in consideration? He’s got experience here from playing Shield, at the very least.