'Gee, I wish we had an all-rounder' – Tim Paine's worry after Josh Hazlewood injury

Josh Hazlewood, who pulled up in his run-up in his second over during the first New Zealand innings, was diagnosed with a low-grade hamstring tear that ruled him out of bowling further in the Test. He was subsequently also ruled out of the Boxing Day Test, which starts next week.

Australia recovered from the blow quickly as captain Paine carefully managed the workload of his quicks. However, he admitted that he was initially worried after Hazlewood went down, hoping they had another all-rounder in the mix.

"I thought, gee, I wish we had an allrounder," he said during the post-match press conference. "I was very surprised Josh [Hazlewood] got injured because he hasn't for a little while. But I know that Starcy [Mitchell Starc] and Pat [Cummins] and Josh are great athletes. So I knew we could handle the load particularly when we have Nathan [Lyon] in our side who can bowl lots of overs. I think Marnus [Labuschagne] coming in and playing in our side also gives us another option which is lucky."

Paine believes there is a need to cultivate quality all-rounders in domestic cricket. "Mitch Marsh is injured, there's Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green in WA [Western Australia], (Moises) Henriques is playing very, very well for New South Wales," he added. "I don't think there's too much more we can do. You can't force kids to bat and bowl growing up.

"We have some guys there who can certainly fill the role, the four I mentioned are all quality cricketers although Green is a little younger."

Paine was pleased that his revised battle plans worked well as Starc and Cummins took 12 wickets between them in the Test. The captain did make unusual bowling choices in a bid to ease the workload, even introducing Matthew Wade in the attack in the first innings. He also used the part-time off-spin of Travis Head in the second to ease off the load in addition to Marnus Labuschange's handly leg-spin.

"The conversation was around making sure we had those two big boys [Starc and Cummins] fresh come five down in the second innings. And I thought we managed it really well so that when we were bowling to their tail they still had a bit of energy and speed up their sleeves," said Paine.

Overall, the Australia Test skipper is happy with the way things have gone for Australia over the last year and a half. "Certainly over the last 18 months there's been drastic improvement in this team. Granted we have some players back which is helping, but there's been improvement in the guys who were given a chance 18 months ago and the experienced players have come back and put some icing on the top. We are moving in the right direction."

Australia will name Hazlewood's replacement later this week. Coach Justin Langer hinted that Peter Siddle might be a frontrunner to replace the injured bowler.