The post-script to the first test between Australia and New Zealand at the Basin Reserve has been tarred with rumours of internal ructions in the Kiwi camp over the handling of the retirement of veteran paceman Neil Wagner—who, according to former captain Ross Taylor, was forced into retirement.
After meekly submitting last weekend to the mental stranglehold that Australia exerts over the Black Caps in the Test arena, the Kiwis will need to conjure up a huge shift in form and attitude if they are to topple the world champions in the second test starting tomorrow in Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.
Best-of-two test series are fiddly and often leave the cricket fan underwhelmed when the honours are shared.
However, that shouldn’t be a problem as, on current form, Australia should take the chocolates against a side, who at Wellington, were uncharacteristically impotent given the benefit of home conditions.
Except for a reckless heave from captain Tim Southee, the Black Caps batters could not be accused of a lack of commitment in chasing a massive 389 to win, only 10 teams in the game’s history have scaled a mountain so high in the fourth innings.
The real issue lies with the Australian first innings record ninth wicket stand by Cameron Green and Josh Hazlewood that deflated the Black Caps and ultimately cost them the game even after Glenn Phillips stole the show and rolled the Aussies for just 164 in their second dig.
The muddled tactics and field placings from Southee on that second morning raised the ire of supporters, many of whom have expressed doubts about whether the 35-year-old, who will play his 100th test tomorrow, is the right man for the job.
The perfect candidate to wrap up the tail would have been the combative, almost Australian-like Neil Wagner who had been left out of the playing XI.
In the second test against the South Africans, after a wicket, Wagner gave a middle finger salute towards someone in the New Zealand dressing room—speculated to be coach Gary Stead. A second incident saw Wagner put a finger to his tooth in a “hush” gesture to Tim Southee after a wicket—perhaps referencing an earlier berating from Southee over his fielding.
Confidence in Southee’s captaincy and Stead’s management style took another hit in the post-match washup when former Captain Ross Taylor, himself no stranger to being unceremoniously dumped by a coach, accused the New Zealand camp of pushing the petulant Wagner permanently out to pasture.
“I think it all makes sense a little bit now, ”said Taylor to the Around the Wicket show.
“There’s no sugarcoating it: I think it’s a forced retirement. If you listen to Wagner’s press conference, he was retiring, but it was after this last Test match [against Australia]. So he did make himself available.”
“Lots of people come out and say different things and as a team, we try and focus on what’s important and that’s our team and our environment and what we’re trying to do and give our energy to that,” Williamson said.
The injury to New Zealand bowler Will O'Rourke means a replacement needs to be sorted for Christchurch.
Talk of a Hollywood-type ending that would see Wagner coming out of retirement and donning the whites to bowl the Black Caps to a famous victory was floated by reporters, but was quickly shot down by a Po-faced Stead—adding more fuel to the fire of conspiracy.
Instead, 25-year-old speedster Ben Sears, who impressed in the T20 series, has been called in to make his test debut.
Southee said this morning a decision would be made closer to kickoff on whether seamer Scott Kuggelijn, who hardly sharpened the scorer’s pencils in Wellington, is preferred to the wiley deception of Mitchell Santer on a pitch not known to be a happy hunting ground for tweakers.
Australia goes in with an unchanged lineup, despite calls in some quarters for Micheal Neser to get a run. After a slip in the world batting rankings, Steve Smith will be hoping to rediscover form as will Marnus Labuschagne who made just 3 runs across both innings at the Basin.
