Fourteen wickets fell at Hagley Oval on day one of the second Test, but Josh Hazlewood’s precision was the difference between the two sides.
At Hagley Oval on day one of the second Test, New Zealand’s top order dearly wished that this were true. Upon edging a treacherous Hazlewood lifter to Alex Carey, Daryl Mitchell offered a quizzical look down the pitch as if to say, “What can you do?”Having found a way to stay on the park, to ward off the challenges of Scott Boland and then to put the ball in exactly the right spot for extended periods, the answer against Hazlewood this season really has been “not much”.
Travis Head then fell in the final half hour but, but Australia’s innings was sustained by Marnus Labuschagne’s punchy 45 not out. Hazlewood’s precision 5-31 had been the difference between the teams. If not retired, Hazlewood may rather have found himself stuck behind others in the pecking order, not least after Scott Boland plucked 33 wickets at fewer than 15 runs apiece in eight Tests between 2021 and 2023.But the faith of the selectors and captain Cummins, in addition to a more enlightened era for the management of fast bowlers, has been rewarded with a period in which Hazlewood has actually been taking wickets at a better rate than Boland had done.
Angling in around the wicket, Hazlewood nipped a delivery back towards Tom Latham as the opener let it go, before the following delivery, from a tighter initial line, moved subtly away for a thin outside edge behind. The game was changing. That left Williamson to mount a rearguard, but Hazlewood was not yet done. Ironically given the reason Cummins brought him into the attack, Hazlewood bowled just three of Williamson’s first 36 balls faced. His 37th was in that full, dangerous zone for seam, and did just enough to bat Williamson’s half-forward stroke for a clear lbw.
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