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Josh Hazlewood has won over New Zealand fans on day two of the second Test, signing a piece of yellow sandpaper to cheers from the local fans at Hagley Oval.
Australia took a 96-run lead on the first innings but half centuries to Tom Latham and Kane Williamson have given the Kiwis a 40-run lead at stumps with eight wickets in hand.
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Hazlewood, who took a first innings five-wicket haul, has yet to strike in the second innings but had the crowd eating out of his hands while fielding on the boundary.
As most players do when they’re pushed deep, Hazlewood was making the day of some youngsters who scored the prized signature of the Aussie quick.
But New Zealand haven’t had Australia visit in a Test series since 2015/16, so the home fans were looking to have their shot at the Aussies over the 2018 ball tampering scandal.
Since 2018, the Aussies have only toured New Zealand once for a five-match T20I series in 2021, which was played in empty stadiums during the Covid pandemic.
Forced to wait six years, the Kiwi fans haven’t held back.
The latest was a group of fans handing him a piece of sandpaper.
“He’s got a sandpaper,” one fan was heard saying, before others started goading him into it with, “C’mon Joshie”.
And he did, as the hill went up as one cheering.
One fan commented: “What a good sport.”
Another said: “This is gold.”
A third added: “What a top bloke.”
And plenty more had laugh crying emojis.
It’s not the first time Hazlewood has been met with sandpaper or the like.
In 2021, members of the Barmy Army got Hazlewood to sign a photo of himself.
But folded under was the statement: “I Joshua ‘Joshie’ Hazlewood do solemnly swear that I knew it was sandpaper.”
As Aussie fans will know all too well, the 2018 ball tampering scandal was one of the blackest marks in the nation’s cricket history after Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera applying sandpaper to the ball.
It led to David Warner and Steve Smith being banned for a year, while Bancroft served nine months as the trio were not allowed to play domestic or international cricket outside of selected T20 tournaments.
However, Australia’s four bowlers, who could have benefited from the hairbrained scheme, have long denied any knowledge of the plan.
Warner also poked the bear before this year’s T20 series against New Zealand, hitting out at the Kiwi fans, despite only having toured in the country in 2016.
Even then he claimed he and his teammates had been targeted by home supporters with extremely personal attacks.
“The crowd, yeah, they got personal, but if they have to get personal, that’s their character,” Warner said at the start of the series.
“I just go about my business. But that’s upon each individual, if that’s what they feel like they have to do, then so be it.
“If you want to pay your money to come and abuse people, you have to go back and lay in your own bed.
“We’re here to play the game of cricket that we love, enjoy and put bums on seats to keep the game going.”
The Kiwis let their voices be heard, with some fans bringing posters of Warner and Smith crying in their respective press conferences after the ball tampering scandal and gave Warner a serve after he was dismissed in his one and only T20 knock of the series.
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