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Preamble
Hello, good morning and welcome to live coverage of the second and probably penultimate day in the second Test between New Zealand and Australia. It’s 30 years next week since Ken Rutherford calmly guided New Zealand to victory over Allan Border’s Australia in Auckland. That match is the last time the Aussies lost a Test or failed to win a series in New Zealand.
Thirty years! It’s a bewildering statistic, one that has perpetuated itself in the 21st century, and you don’t need Carel Struycken to tell you it appears to be happening again. Australia had the better of the first day, with Josh Hazlewood bowling majestically to nobble New Zealand for 162. If they see off the first spell from Matt Henry, who bowled beautifully last night, they should sit snugly in the box seat.
Australia will resume on 124 for four, a deficit of 38, with Marnus Labuschagne on 45 and Nathan Lyon on 1. Labuschagne’s return to something resembling form is very welcome, but the batter New Zealand really fear in this situation is the next man in, Mitchell Marsh. Two hours of his coruscating strokeplay could finish them off.