Key events
70th over: New Zealand 219-3 (Ravindra 54, Mitchell 31) Time for a change, says Pat. Let’s bring on The Bison. Mitchell Marsh replaces Mitchell Starc’s attack on Daryl Mitchell. But amidst the Mitch Maelstrom is Rachin Ravindra and he swats Marsh’s full first ball through the line for a lovely four to notch his fifty. Takes a single from the third which leaves Mitchell to clip a four off his right pocket. Nine from the over.
FIFTY! Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand 214-3)
Lovely shot to Mitch Marsh’s first ball and that’s a fine half-century from the fresh prince of New Zealand’s batting line-up. It came from 96 balls at a strike-rate of 55.
69th over: New Zealand 210-3 (Ravindra 49, Mitchell 27) Swept for four! Lovely shot by Mitchell who has taken my earlier sleight on his batting personally. – and potently. He’s now up to 28 at a strike rate over 68 the fastest knock of the innings so far.
68th over: New Zealand 203-3 (Ravindra 47, Mitchell 22) Starc strays, Renshaw misfields and Mitchell finds a gap behind point for three runs. That’s 200 up for the Black Caps. Ravindra taps another two to backward point. Runs starting to flow for New Zealand. Big swipe at the fifth but Head has moved back and keeps it to a single. The Ravindra-Mitchell partnership is now 48 from 72 balls.
67th over: New Zealand 197-3 (Ravindra 44, Mitchell 19) Down the ground! Good shot by Ravindra who has decided to take Lyon on. The GOAT was searching for drift but the Black Cap No 4 was onto it early and sent it into the fence on the bounce. New Zealand have their lead up to 103 now.
66th over: New Zealand 188-3 (Ravindra 40, Mitchell 18) Starc attacks! Ravindra counters! There’d been a lot of parry and thrust for five balls and then Starc dug one in. But it didn’t get the lift he’d hoped for from this benign Christchurch wicket and Ravindra climbed into it and swung hard. But he too didn’t nail the execution and it fell short of the boundary rope.
65th over: New Zealand 189-3 (Ravindra 37, Mitchell 19) Lyon leaks a run but otherwise keeps Mitchell guessing. Things have slowed a little here. Blistering pace at one end and guileful spin at the other have New Zealand second guessing themselves.
64th over: New Zealand 188-3 (Ravindra 37, Mitchell 18) Starc delivers a maiden. In the absence of swing or movement off the pitch, he’s plumbing a fuller length today. Might be warming up for one of his trademarkcorker yorkers.
63rd over: New Zealand 188-3 (Ravindra 37, Mitchell 18) Lyon likes his chances here. In the absence of spin he’s started floating it into what amounts to rough. He beats Mitchell on the third but Daryl responds brightly on the rebound, jumping out to strike a lovely six down the ground. A reverse sweep sees Smith diving to his right at leg slip again. Was that a catch?
62nd over: New Zealand 181-3 (Ravindra 36, Mitchell 12) BANG goes Daryl Mitchell! Starc put it full and wide and there’s no movement out there yet so Mitchell stands and delivers, driving for four down the ground. Great shot by Mitchell D off Mitchell S.
61st over: New Zealand 177-3 (Ravindra 36, Mitchell 8) Cummins gets Lyon on the line. Mitchell does well to reverse sweep the second delivery for a single that scythes along the patchworked turf here at Hagley Oval. Ravindra tries a different tactic, stepping back and driving down the ground with a high elbow for a single. Mitchell revisits the reverse sweep on the fourth but Steve Smith is in a leg slip trap and he starts moving the instant Mitchell unfurls the stroke and saves four as he bats it down. Freaky skills from Smudge.
60th over: New Zealand 174-3 (Ravindra 35, Mitchell 6) Top edge! But it falls into space and Ravindra survives. That was a sweet nut from Cummins and the young Black Cap prodigy second-guessed himself midway through the hook shot. Again the intent was attacking. Ravindra is a batter who backs himself. Timid he ain’t. So he banks a boundary, his third of his 72-ball innings.
59th over: New Zealand 165-3 (Ravindra 31, Mitchell 6) Need a spark? Bring on Starc. And straight away big Mitch draws a swish and a mish from Rachin Ravindra. Beautiful ball first up from the man who moved past Dennis Lillee on the wicket-takers list in the first innings. Ravindra sends his own form of congratulations for that feat – a sweetly laced drive down the ground for four.
58th over: New Zealand 165-3 (Ravindra 26, Mitchell 6) Almost a run-out! Non-striker Ravindra set off for the single and Mitchell – who makes a habit of over-compensating for a lack of runs with an overload of decibels in his calling – sends him back.
Simon McMahon has chimed in: “Evening Angus. Just watched the Mitch Marsh speech for the first time, and I’m not crying. It’s just raining on my face. We need more of that, please. What a guy. Still rooting for New Zealand, though.”
Let ‘em flow, Simon. Happens to the best of us while making a lasagna.
57th over: New Zealand 163-3 (Ravindra 26, Mitchell 4) Mitchell gets a well-legged two after working Hazlewood off his toes. Now Ravindra angles his bat and slides two down to third man. After snaring 5-31 from 1`3 overs in the first innings, Hazlewood’s figures are now 0-43 from 18 in the second. New Zealand lead by 69.
56th over: New Zealand 157-3 (Ravindra 23, Mitchell 1) Alex Carey is breathing a little easier. His fumble of Latham last night has only cost his side a handful of runs and he was key to Cummins reviewing that double-noise the skipper detected. Now Daryl Mitchell is at the crease playing and missing. I know he’s a senior man in this side – 32-years-old – but he’s only got 22 Tests to his name and he’s looked very ropey all series.
WICKET! Latham c Carey b Cummins 73 (New Zealand 155-3)
Cummins strikes! He got the ball to rear and move back a little and it caught Latham fending. There were two noises detectable straight away and the umpire said ‘Yeah but nah’ but Cummins reviewed and there was a wee smidge of bat on it before it defloected onto the thigh pad. Early breakthrough for Australia!
55th over: New Zealand 155-2 (Latham 73, Ravindra 22) Misfield by Australia! That was the normally impeccable Marnus Labuschagne in close and his fumble on the fly delivers three to Ravindra. Now Latham gets three too, driving Hazlewood through mid on. Ravindra is into the 20s now but we know he can go big…
54th over: New Zealand 149-2 (Latham 70, Ravindra 19) Cummins is zeroing in on the timber here, varying his pace, looking to catch Latham lbw. Not much movement to be detected thus far. How soon before we see Nathan Lyon introduced I wonder? He has only bowled six overs in this innings so far. Cummins delivers a maiden.
53rd over: New Zealand 149-2 (Latham 70, Ravindra 19) If Josh Hazlewood was disappointed by Carey dropping Latham last night he didn’t let it show. Cool as ice, he winced and spun on his heel to go again. Now he’s charging hard, keen to snuff Latham’s second life before it unspools too much farther. It all goes to plan for five balls as the batter stays pinned in his crease by smart length bowling. But Latham leans into the slightly fuller and straighter final delivery and clips it the fence for four.
52nd over: New Zealand 144-2 (Latham 66, Ravindra 18) Statement of intent here from Pat Cummins. He keeps Starc on ice and takes the opening spell himself. The captain bowled magnificently last night to extract Kane Williamson. But straight away Ravindra accepts the challenge, rising on his toes to the second ball and slashing it to the rope. Runs a single on the next. Latham is the senior man in this partnership but Ravindra is the danger for Australia. Young, aggressive, with a gimlet eye and a full arsenal of strokes, he could extend this 50-run lead very quickly.
51st over: New Zealand 138-2 (Latham 65, Ravindra 13) Josh Hazlewood must’ve miscounted his run-up. He starts the day with a no-ball, very uncharacteristic by The Hoff. Ravindra runs a quick single and gets a bonus run into the bargain as Mitchell Marsh’s run-out attempt ricochets awkwardly off the stumps. Now an edge! But Ravindra’s soft hands send it on the bounce to Steve Smith at second slip. He readjusts his mark, taking a half-step forward. Australia will still be smarting from Alex Carey’s diving fumble last night that spared Tom Latham. How much will it cost them?
Pundits are picking this as a batting day. The Hagley Oval wicket shows few signs of cracks and still has tinges of green. There’s a “wee nor’easter” sliding in but the skies are blue and cloudless. Mitch Marsh says its been a good cricket wicket for two days so far. “Who can break the game open for Australia? “Me, hopefully!”
As Josh Hazlewood marks out his run-up for the first over of the day, here’s another squiz at Marsh’s now-legendary Allan Border Medal speech…
Blue skies and light breezes here at Hagley Oval. Australia will come out swinging in a bid for early breakthroughs. New Zealand will look to knuckle down to survive this first session hoping to make hay later in the day. Batting conditions are improving by the hour so the Black Caps need to supercharge this slender 40-run lead to give Australia a chase big enough to get their nerves jangling and their mind playing tricks on them.
Merv Hughes – 212 wickets from 53 Tests – is at the ground today sporting his trademark handlebar moustache, now white as the froth of a 1989 Fosters Lager. Apparently he grew the mo on a backpacking odyssey around Australia as a young tearaway and hasn’t shaved it since. Here’s his hat-trick ball against the West Indies in 1988-89, complete with a trademark Swervin’ Mervyn send-off.
For those who came in late, here’s how Day 2 played out…
Preamble
Welcome to day three and a second Test on a knife’s edge.
After 14 wickets fell on a frenetic opening day, Day Two took a different path – surging then steadying before eventually settling into the slow, delicious simmer of classic Test cricket.
Thanks to Marnus Labuschagne (90) and tail-wagging from Nathan Lyon (20), Mitchell Starc (28) and Pat Cummins (23), Australia defied a seven wicket collapse after tea to build a 94-run first innings lead.
But, inspired by Matt Henry’s magnificent haul of 7-47 and Glenn Phillips’ flying catch to deny Labuschagne his 12th Test century, New Zealand dug in and duked their way to a position of power at stumps.
Kane Williamson and Tom Latham put on a partnership of 105 to wipe Australia’s lead and put the home side ahead. Some Pat Cummins magic got rid of Williamson for 51 but wicketkeeper Alex Carey undid the good work by dropping Latham late.
Latham resumes on 65 not out this morning with the dangerous Rachin Ravindra – fresh from his epic 240 against South Africa last month – unbeaten on 11. It puts New Zealand 40 runs ahead on 134-2 with eight wickets in hand and three days to play.
Can the Kiwis avenge their 172-run loss in Wellington last week? Is their first victory over Australia on home soil for 31 years slowly winking into existence? Or will normal service resume and see this all-conquering Australia side blast back into ascendancy?
Buckle ‘em up and batten ‘em down, folks – the first ball of Day 3 is nigh!