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At 89 for four, Australia were left in a precarious position on Day 1 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green put on a counterattacking show in their 67-run stand before it was all about the all-rounder. The New Australia No. 4 notched up his second Test century of his career to hit back at critics. New Zealand were still in with a chance at 279 for nine, but the bowlers let the game slip away on Day 2, allowing Green to combine with Josh Hazlewood in a record tenth-wicket stand as Australia amassed 383 runs.
The opening session on Day 2 began on a comical note with a certain move from Green that left the on-field umpires baffled. It happened in the third over on Friday when New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry dished out a full-swing delivery on the pads. Hazlewood carefully clipped it through midwicket. The batters reckoned there were two runs on offer, but Green, who had his eye on the ball the entire time, bizarrely sent back Hazlewood even before he completed a single.
A replay of the incident, which left the commentators in splits, showed that Hazlewood immediately sprinted down the track for a single, but Green looked hesitant. The two batters did cross, but neither batter completed the single as Green called his partner to get back to his original position in a bid to allow him to take strike when the new over begins from the next ball. It eventually turned out to be a dot ball.
“It’s like they almost ran a 2. Like 1.5. But it’s a dot. Let’s just pretend it never happened,” exclaimed one of the commentators.
The rarest of rare
Hazlewood was left smiling, and so was Green, but the umpires were left confused. They held a rather lengthy chat on the side of the pitch before New Zealand skipper Tim Southee had a word with them.
104 runs were added to the overnight score as Hazlewood and Green stitched a record partnership of 116 runs, which is 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).
Henry completed a five-wicket haul with the dismissal of Hazlewood at the stroke of lunch, but the applause at the Basin Reserve was reserved for Green, who laced 23 fours and 5 sixes in his unbeaten knock of 175 from 275 balls. It is the highest knock by an Aussie in New Zealand since Adam Voges’ 239 in Wellington in 2016 and the fifth-highest overall.
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