Wisden
Tour review

Australia v New Zealand, 2015-16

Geoff Lemon


The Australian players pose with the series trophy, Australia v New Zealand, 3rd Test, Adelaide, 3rd day, November 29, 2015
The Australian players pose with the series trophy © Getty Images
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Series/Tournaments: New Zealand tour of Australia

Test matches (3): Australia 2, New Zealand 0

This series will be remembered as the birth of day/night Test cricket, so newly delivered as to feel slick with caul. Its infant health proved sufficiently robust to avoid abandonment on a hillside but, depending on your perspective, the weanling could grow up to be either cricket's saviour or the monster that devours it. Either scenario places a lot of responsibility on a newborn.

Destruction, at least, won't be attributable to the format's pink ball. The lurid Kookaburra with the pine-green stitching stood up staunchly to everything asked of it on its first Test outing, during the third match, at Adelaide. The grassy pitch designed to preserve the ball's condition also helped preserve the sanity of onlookers, providing a more balanced contest after the Perth Test was dominated by the bat. As for concerns about visibility, ask the fan who pulled off a spectacular catch from the first pink-ball six, at deep square leg, at dusk.

When this series had first been scheduled, New Zealand's Test side were so weak they were designated as the warm-up act for the touring clown show that is the modern West Indies. But Brendon McCullum had overseen New Zealand's resurgence. Australia had lost badly in the UAE and England over the previous 13 months, while the New Zealanders had fought creditably in both countries for 1-1 draws.

Yet, as it turned out, their new breed retained a mental block. They were talked up for their first Trans-Tasman win since the days of Richard Hadlee but, as in the 2015 World Cup, their arrival in Australia changed the story. They were barely present for the First Test, nor for the opening day of the Second, and with that the chance of a series win was gone. While they fought back in Perth to draw, and were denied a potentially match-winning lead in Adelaide by an error from third umpire Nigel Llong, it was the first time since their tour of England in 2013, eight series earlier, that New Zealand had tasted overall defeat.

Even so, there was plenty to cheer. As his Test average marched towards 50, Kane Williamson filled one of the few remaining holes in his re´sume´ by taking a hundred - in fact two - off the Australians, to finish the series with 428 runs at 85. Appreciation for his class belatedly overcame the myopia of local fans and pundits. Ross Taylor's Perth 290, meanwhile, was the highest Test score by a visiting batsman in Australia. Doug Bracewell bowled impressive spells, and Trent Boult came close to winning the Third Test with five for 60. McCullum was admired, and his every dismissal - in what turned out to be his final overseas series - cheered with a tinge of relief.

For Australia the series was about renewal. A few months earlier, Ryan Harris had retired before a ball of the 2015 Ashes was bowled. Shane Watson and Brad Haddin had lasted one Test. Michael Clarke shouldn't have lasted five. Chris Rogers called time on himself. Back home, Mitchell Johnson realised he'd had enough. Two seasons earlier, 11 Australians surged through the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash unchanged. Only three were ever-present then and now. Against England, Steve Smith, David Warner and Nathan Lyon had been junior parties.

Now they were captain, vice-captain, and the "GOAT" - designated mirthfully by team-mates as the Greatest Of All Time after becoming the nation's most prolific off-spinner. The nickname wasn't pure irony: he would soon become the first Australian offie to play 50 Tests and, in terms of spin wickets, trailed only the leg-break cartel of Shane Warne, Richie Benaud, Clarrie Grimmett and Stuart MacGill.

Warner embraced responsibility, making three consecutive centuries for the second time in his career, including his first double and his two longest innings. He finished with 592 runs; only Graham Gooch (752), Brian Lara (688) and Mohammad Yousuf (665) had compiled more in a series of three Tests. Usman Khawaja scored two tons on his return to the side before tweaking his hamstring, while newly anointed opener Joe Burns also hit a maiden hundred, in the First Test. Adam Voges proved his worth as a late-blooming selection with 285 runs at 71.

Johnson's abrupt retirement after Perth fundamentally changed the fastbowling attack. Australia's coach Darren Lehmann saw no contradiction in coveting extreme pace - playing the erratic pair of Johnson and Mitchell Starc - while lamenting a lack of control. The sensible and economical choice of Peter Siddle had been forced on the selectors come Adelaide, where Starc's injured ankle allowed Josh Hazlewood a turn as attack leader.

Off the field, there was plenty of talk about "nice guys". New Zealand were built up as paragons of deference and decency, and Australians accused them of hamming it up. As a couple of bemused New Zealanders explained when the cameras were off, this was nothing to do with illustrating their opponents' faults: they were simply behaving the way they'd been taught. Taking into account the preceding weeks of the rugby World Cup, and the All Blacks' respect for even the most lowly opponent, that was hard to dispute.

If the Australians were shown up for a lack of class, it was their own behaviour that made them vulnerable. ABC commentator Dirk Nannes met hostility for saying that the team's historically poor reputation meant the current lot needed to try to change it. The response to his comments only proved his point. In the end the nice guys did finish last, leaving Australia hopeful that their own new era would work out. But New Zealand left with reputation intact, and renewed determination to boss the return series in February.

Match reports for

Tour Match: Prime Minister's XI v New Zealanders at Canberra, Oct 23, 2015
Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Cricket Australia XI v New Zealanders at Canberra, Oct 24-25, 2015
Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Cricket Australia XI v New Zealanders at Sydney, Oct 29-31, 2015
Report | Scorecard

1st Test: Australia v New Zealand at Brisbane, Nov 5-9, 2015
Report | Scorecard

2nd Test: Australia v New Zealand at Perth, Nov 13-17, 2015
Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Western Australia XI v New Zealanders at Perth, Nov 21-22, 2015
Report | Scorecard

3rd Test: Australia v New Zealand at Adelaide, Nov 27-29, 2015
Report | Scorecard

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