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An absolute moment of madness on Day 2 summed up the horrible start that New Zealand incurred at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Friday. Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was left in shambles after a horrifying run out after lunch, which resulted in a duck, as hosts slipped to five down for just 29 runs chasing Australia’s formidable first innings score of 383.
En route to an epic knock of 174 not out as Australia’s new No. 4, Cameron Green combined with tailender Josh Hazelwood to stitch a record tenth-wicket stand of 116 runs, the fourth-highest 10th-wicket partnership for Australia in men’s Test history and the second-highest outside home (Ashton Agar and Phillip Hughes – 163 vs England, July 2013).
Having been criticised for their bowling strategy on the second morning of the first Test, and failing to dismiss Hazlewood during Australia’s tenth-wicket stand, things went from bad to worse for New Zealand as they lost their top five for just 29 runs in 17.1 overs, chasing 393.
Opener Tom Latham was undone by a brilliant delivery from Mitchell Marsh, which left him in two minds. Williamson walked in next, with the hope to help New Zealand recover from the early jolt. The star batter has been in ravishing form, smashing seven centuries in the last seven matches, which saw him surge to the top of ICC Test rankings among batters. A century more would have seen him go past Steve Smith’s tally of 32 Test centuries. However, all hopes were crushed in just two deliveries.
In his second ball, Williamson pushed the fuller delivery from Starc towards mid-off and took off for a single. His partner, Will Young had his eye on the ball and hesitantly responded to the call. He rushed his way off towards the other end, but ended up colliding with Williamson. Marnus Labuschagne collected the ball meanwhile and castled down the stumps, leaving Williamson in disbelief.
It was the first time Williamson suffered a run-out dismissal since 2012 as New Zealand lost two wickets in the same over. “I cannot believe it,” former Aussie cricket star Brendon Julian said in commentary “How has that happened? Calamity out there in the middle.”
Former New Zealand batter Craig McMillan added: “I can’t believe what I’ve just seen here. That is just a disaster for New Zealand.”
Hazlewood followed up his valiant knock with a superb delivery that dismissed Rachin Ravindra for a three-ball duck before captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh picked one each to leave New Zealand reeling at 29 for five in the second session on Day 2.
New Zealand were eventually folded for 179 runs. The score could have been a lot worse for the hosts had it not been for the counterattacking knock from Glenn Phillips after tea as he carved out a patient knock of 71 off 70 balls. However, a brilliant spell of 4/43 from Nathan Lyon helped Australia grab a lead of 205 runs.