On the second day of the second Test in Christchurch on Saturday, Australia captain Pat Cummins bowled Kane Williamson in the dying seconds of the match, and the great batsman was right in the innings to put New Zealand in the lead. threatened.
After dropping 14 wickets on the opening day and seven more by tea time, Williamson and Tom Latham pressed the pause button in a frenetic match with a partnership of 105, erasing Australia’s first innings lead. He left, giving the home team a 17-point lead.
Cummins returned to the bowl in the late afternoon gloom, hit his first delivery, and Williamson dragged the ball into the stumps as he attempted a drive and departed shaking his head to score 51.
Opener Latham was then set back by Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey, but reached the stumps with a not-out 65 and resumed on Sunday alongside Rachin Ravindra, who is unbeaten on 11, with New Zealand on 40 for 134 for two. Leading.
“It was good to build some partnerships little by little. Hopefully tomorrow we can make some more partnerships and try again,” Williamson said. “I’m happy to have the lead at the moment and we’ll have to see how much of a lead we can get. We don’t have any goals at the moment, we just have to make a plan and execute.”
New Zealand suffered a crushing 172-point defeat at Wellington last week and are trailing 0-1 in the two-match Test series, but have not beaten Australia on home soil for 31 years.
Seamer Matt Henry kept the Blackcaps in the contest with a bowling record of 7-67 as New Zealand dismissed Australia for 256, limiting their first-innings advantage to 94 runs.
Marnus Labuschagne rediscovered his batting touch with a fine 90 innings and buried most of the lead, but Glenn Phillips took an unparalleled flying catch at gully from the bowling of New Zealand captain Tim Southea, making 12 The test of the century has been defeated.
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The dismissal meant the Australians, who beat the hosts for 162 on Friday and restarted with a 124-4 lead, went to lunch at 221-8, but Henry coached Mitchell Starc (28) and Pat Cummins (28). 23 years old), ending a typically tough last-place stand.
Nathan Ryan had scored some tail-end runs early on as night watchman in this series, but Henry restricted him to 20 wickets on Saturday, making it his second successive five-wicket haul.
Starc batted early for the Australians, scoring one off Will Young with a great stand-up shot. The ball missed the opening pitcher’s shoulder and flew into the glove of Alex Carey, who was behind the stumps.
