Pacers, Labuschagne give Australia opening day honours

Australia bagged the honours on the opening day of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch after their pacers bowled out the hosts for just 162 in their first innings. In reply, Australia were jittery with the bat but a fighting unbeaten 45 from Marnus Labuschagne has ensured that they are now only 38 runs adrift.

New Zealand made a positive start to the Test match when Tom Latham picked up two boundaries off the very first over bowled by Mitchell Starc. Josh Hazlewood posed some early questions but Latham continued to pick boundaries regularly to keep New Zealand going. Will Young finally fetched his first boundary after the first drinks break but Starc eventually broke through in his second spell as the batter got a leading edge to third slip to give Australia their first wicket.

Latham continued being positive and appeared to be the key batter but his dismissal triggered a collapse that put the visitors in complete control. The left-hander edged one behind to get caught by the keeper and from 61/1, New Zealand were left reeling at 84/5. Rachin Ravindra chased a wide delivery to get caught at first slip just before the lunch break and post resumption, Hazlewood dismissed Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson in successive overs.

Starc then struck twice in two deliveries to pin New Zealand further down and if not for some handy runs from Matt Henry and Tim Southee, New Zealand wouldn’t have gotten anywhere closer to 150. Hazlewood, who had an excellent outing, picked up the final wicket to finish with a five-fer.

Australia in reply made a watchful start with Matt Henry bowling a testing opening spell. However, it was the debutant Ben Sears who gave the hosts the first breakthrough as he got the big fish Steve Smith in his first over. Smith misjudged the delivery completely and offered no shot to get trapped lbw. Usman Khawaja, who was slowly getting into his groove, was the next to depart as Henry found some reward finally by castling him.

Labuschagne then joined forces with Cameron Green to keep Australia steady for a while. The pair hit three boundaries off the first three overs of their partnership before Green took on Sears and Southee. Having already made a match-winning hundred in the opening Test, Green looked set for another big score before Henry came to knock over the No.4 batter. Travis Head threatened briefly by racing to 21 off just 18 balls to eat into the deficit but Henry removed him as well, much to New Zealand’s relief. However, with just 38 runs behind, Australia will fancy their chances of pressing home the advantage on the second day.

Brief scores:
Australia 124/4 in 36 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 45*, Cameron Green 25, Travis Head 21; Matt Henry 3-39) trail  New Zealand 162 in 45.2 overs (Tom Latham 38, Tom Blundell 22, Matt Henry 29, TimSouthee 26; Josh Hazlewood 5-31, Mitchell Starc 3/59) by 38 runs