Australia, New Zealand confident of chances with Test tantalisingly poised

New Zealand v Australia scorecard

A riveting third day has ensured that both New Zealand and Australia will believe that they have a good chance of winning the second Test in Christchurch. Australia lead the series 1-0, after a 172-run win in Wellington in the first Test match.

Starting the day at 134/2, New Zealand added 238 runs in their second innings on the back of spirited half-centuries from Tom Latham (73), Rachin Ravindra (82), and Daryl Mitchell (58). A solid 44 from Scott Kuggeleijn lower down the order helped the side take a healthy lead and set a strong target.

Chasing 279 for a win, Australia's batting was rocked early on. Matt Henry and Ben Sears shared two wickets apiece to leave Australia reeling at 34/4 before Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh rescued the innings with a brisk stand of 43.

Going into day four, the game hangs in the balance and both teams will fancy their chances.

This positivity is reflected in the post-game interviews given by New Zealand’s Tom Latham and Australia’s Nathan Lyon.

Latham was quite pleased after the day’s play, where according to him New Zealand had inched ahead after having fallen behind in the contest,

“A great day. If you offered us that they’ll be four-down with 200 to get, we would’ve taken it. Especially, after the position in the first two innings. (We’ve) been behind the game and to bring it back to parity and then get our noses in front is pretty good,” Latham said.

He, however, added that there was still a lot of cricket left to be played. 

Though Latham’s wicket was lost quite early by the Black Caps, Ravindra and Mitchell came together to forge a crucial third-wicket stand of 123 runs. Latham was all praise for the duo’s approach.

“They absorbed a lot of pressure initially, and they showed a lot of intent, and scored in their areas. They made the bowlers to come to them. Another valuable contribution, valuable partnership as we talk about as a batting group, so they played fantastically well.”

The opener also heaped praise on seamers Henry and Sears. Henry had picked a seven-for in the first innings, and followed it up with two wickets in the fourth innings.

“Henry has been fantastic. Kane (Williamson) touched on it last night, the way he bowls suits the surfaces here. Not a massive swing bowler, but moves the ball off the surface. He’s obviously done a great job, he bowls a lot of overs.

“He’s got a great engine on him. He keeps coming back, so he’ll play a key role tomorrow as well."

“And Sears in his first Test, to bowl the way he has. To put pressure on their guys, swing the ball. And to pick a couple of valuable wickets tonight is outstanding. He’ll take a lot of confidence from that.”

Latham wanted his bowling attack to make the most of the surface.

“For us it's (about) being relentless in our areas as much as we can. We’ve seen the new ball tends to offer a little bit and then it can flatten out but I think the surface will offer something throughout the whole game.

“It’s an exciting day tomorrow, with a couple of results possible.”

Lyon echoed a similar sentiment from the Australian perspective. He believed that despite the bad start if Australia managed to do the right things for longer periods, this game could go their way.

“We’ve got confidence and belief that if we do good things for long periods of time: with Heady and Marshy, the way they bat, (and) you’ve got Alex (Carey) coming in next, anything is possible. So, there’s a lot of belief in that change room and that’s the way it should be.”

The spinner praised New Zealand pacer Henry, adding that the Australian batters will show him respect.

“Understanding that we’re coming up against a class New Zealand bowling attack, Matt Henry has been for me the pick of the bowlers the whole series, so there’s going to be plenty of respect there. But if we do good things for longer periods of time, then there’s no reason why not.”

Australia’s ask in this game, and their present position have evoked comparisons to the Birmingham Test against England last year.

Australia chased down a target of 282, with two wickets remaining despite relentless blows from the English bowling attack. Lyon was involved in a match-winning ninth wicket stand with skipper Pat Cummins in that game.

“We’ve been able to tick off a lot of (similar) totals in the past,” Lyon said. “So there’s a lot of confidence there in our batting group. And as bowlers with bats in hand, we pride ourselves in our batting so we’re going to give it our best chance. If it comes down to that, that’s for sure.”

Differing from Latham’s assessment of the track, Lyon believed that once the bowl got softer, there wasn’t much help from the surface.

“Up to the 40th over mark, with the harder ball, it felt like there was something in the wicket. And our quicks probably felt that as well. But when the ball went a bit on the softer side, it was a pretty flat wicket.”