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Black Caps coach Gary Stead has confessed New Zealand’s misreading of home pitches is becoming a concern, admitting the hosts got their selection “wrong” for the first Test against Australia in Wellington.
New Zealand picked four fast bowlers for last week’s series opener at the Basin Reserve, sidelining strike spinner Mitchell Santner. However, the pitch started to turn and bounce on day three, with tweaker Glenn Phillips taking 5-45 in the second innings and Australian spinner Nathan Lyon finishing the match with ten wickets.
Meanwhile, inexperienced Kiwi quicks Scott Kuggeleijn and Will O’Rourke finished with match figures of 4-191 as Australia cruised towards a 172-run victory in the New Zealand capital, retaining the Trans-Tasman Trophy for a 13th consecutive Test series.
It comes after New Zealand similarly misjudged the pitch ahead of last month’s second Test against South Africa, opting not to pick a frontline spinner for a match dominated by slow bowlers.
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Speaking to reporters in Wellington on Monday morning, Stead accepted that New Zealand’s failure to read home conditions was “definitely” a worry, pointing out the Basin Reserve traditionally doesn’t favour spin. Since the start of 2010, spinners have averaged 44.78 in Tests at the iconic venue, compared to 35.51 for seamers.
“If we knew it was going to spin, not so much the spin but the bounce, then Santner would have played,” Stead said.
“We got that wrong, put our hand up around that as well. It’s not what we expected, not what we’ve seen from the Basin Reserve in the past either.
“I think it’s maybe a little bit the dryness of our summer has made things a little bit different to what we normally see here.
“We put our hands up as well and say there’s a couple of times we haven’t got it right, but we’ll say try and again balance out over five days, not just over one or two days.”
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New Zealand captain Tim Southee echoed his coach’s comments the previous day, telling reporters during the post-match press conference: “We certainly didn’t think it was going to spin as much as it did (or) the turn or bounce that was on offer over the last couple of days.
“We’ll go to Hagley and we’ll assess the wicket, hopefully a little bit better than we did here.”
The Black Caps have called up uncapped paceman Ben Sears for the second Test against Australia in Christchurch, which gets underway on Friday. The 26-year-old will replace Will O’Rourke, who has been ruled out of the series finale after picking up a hamstring injury in Wellington.
Meanwhile, New Zealand opener Devon Conway is set to undergo surgery after damaging his thumb during last month’s T20 series against Australia.
Southee left the door ajar for retired teammate Neil Wagner to return for the second Test against Australia, but Stead confirmed the veteran left-armer’s international career was over.
“We reconsidered a number of things, but we thought in this case that I guess the pace of Ben Sears and what he’s brought to us in international cricket so far was the difference that we needed,” Stead continued.
“Neil had a fitting send-off last night with the team. They celebrated everything he’s done, and Neil was happy with the decision of where he’s got to around that as well.”
The second Test between New Zealand and Australia gets underway at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval on Friday, with the first ball scheduled for 9am AEDT.
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