2nd Orange Test: Australia v New Zealand at Hobart, 22-26 Nov 2001 CricInfo Live Report

2nd Orange Test: Australia v New Zealand at Hobart, 22-26 Nov 2001
John Polack

Australia 1st innings: Lunch - Day 1, Tea - Day 1, Stumps - Day 1,
Pre-game: NZ wins toss,

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE AS TEAMS SOUND OUT FAMILIAR TUNE

It was only a moderately overcast day in Hobart, and there certainly weren't enough in the way of ugly clouds to provoke thoughts that a thunderstorm was in any way impending. But, in stunning style, lightning nevertheless struck twice in another form today as Australia made its way to a commanding score of 6/411 on the opening day of the Second Test between Australia and New Zealand here at the Bellerive Oval.

Just as he did in Brisbane during the First Test two weeks ago, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming appeared to land a major blow at the day's outset by calling correctly at the toss and again sending the home team in to bat on a potentially helpful wicket.

Yet, just as it did back then too, the dream of early wickets quickly proved illusory.

And, once more, it was openers Justin Langer (123) and Matthew Hayden (91) who inflicted all of the immediate damage. Their response upon being sent in amid conditions that should have encouraged rather than discouraged bowlers was to follow a partnership of 224 with one of 223.

An aggressively driving, cutting and hooking Langer reached another three-figure score, thus becoming the first Australian opener to hit centuries in three consecutive Tests since David Boon achieved the feat in 1993. For good measure, he also established a new high watermark for Western Australians, surpassing Kim Hughes and Graeme Wood as the state's most prolific-ever scorer of Test hundreds.

"It's a great honour and, by the end of my career, I'd like to think I would have scored a few more so that someone else can really chase the target," said Langer of the milestone.

"I feel very relaxed batting with Matty Hayden. For whatever reason, I seem to gain some strength from him.

"I'm (suddenly) playing the game now how I'd like to play the game. But probably for the 12 months before, I wasn't playing it as I'd like to.

"You never know what's around the corner. Before the Fourth Test (in England), I was at as (close to) rock bottom as I could have been in my cricket career. You've got to sometimes hit the absolute depths before you can start re-climbing the mountain," he added.

Though significantly more subdued than his partner for long periods of their liaison (Langer was on 58 by the time the Queenslander tallied his second run of the innings), Hayden also exceeded a mark of 90 for the fifth time in his last ten Tests. It again served to underscore his transformation into the reliable presence at the top of an international order that his ravenous first-class run scoring has always promised he might become.

It was also their third stand together, in just three outings no less, that has swelled beyond 150.

Talk about déjà vu.

And yet suddenly, in the midst of a peaceful afternoon in the most laid-back of all of Australia's capital cities, there was a transformation. Such a transformation, in fact, that more than just an idle few among the crowd were heard whispering among themselves that they might have seen this all somewhere before too.

In the space of 14 minutes, the opening combination was not only split but indeed both members were shifted - Langer falling to a mistimed cover drive at Chris Cairns (1/102) and Hayden to a lofted stroke to long on off Daniel Vettori (4/99).

And then, on either side of tea, Mark Waugh (12) advanced and played outside the line of a delivery from Vettori to be comprehensively bowled; Steve Waugh (0) perished, somewhat unluckily, as he padded up at one that cut back in from Shane Bond (1/95); and Damien Martyn (0) continued a horror start to the series when he was trapped in front of his stumps by a flighted ball from Vettori.

Both Vettori and Bond, the latter on Test debut, were impressive throughout this period. The over which yielded Steve Waugh's wicket, in particular, was brilliantly conceived and had the Australian captain groping, hopping and fending in unfamiliarly hurried style at deliveries of rapid pace and sustained accuracy.

After being 0/223, Australia was now 5/267.

It was as well for them that Langer (on 1) had been granted another desperately early life - from the very first delivery that Daryl Tuffey (0/58) bowled in the Test match as he slashed a very catchable offering to the right of Matthew Bell at point.

And that they were able to craft a revival, Brisbane-style, through watchful defence and sagacious punishment of the loose ball. Then as now, Adam Gilchrist (39) assisted in no small measure in the cause. Though this time he also had not only Shane Warne (31*) but also local hero Ponting to help him, with a beautifully measured innings on a ground that had previously yielded the Tasmanian scores of just 4, 0 and 0 in Test cricket.

ATTACK FINALLY SPLITS OPENERS TO RESTORE LIFE FOR NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand's bowlers have finally parted Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden, dismissing each of the two Australian openers in the lead-up to the tea interval on the first day of the Second Test against New Zealand here at the Bellerive Oval today. But not even those breakthroughs - nor the further fall of Mark Waugh - have prevented the home team from assuming an authoritative position by the adjournment at a mark of 3/263.

With a partnership that stretched beyond the 150-run mark for the third time in just their third outing together at the top of the order in Tests for Australia, it was Langer (123) and Hayden (91) who again inflicted most of the damage in the post-lunch period.

There was the hint that the Black Caps might have been able to mount something more penetrative in the resumption after lunch, when Shane Bond (0/59) and Craig McMillan (0/25) were able to extract steepling bounce off the pitch to beat the bat more than once.

But bat quickly resumed the domination of ball that had earlier been established in a better than run-a-minute opening session. Langer clattered to the tenth three-figured score of his Test career - becoming the first Australian opener to hit centuries in three consecutive Tests since David Boon achieved the feat in 1993. He also established a new high watermark for Western Australians, becoming the state's most prolific-ever scorer of Test hundreds.

Events almost perfectly mirrored those on the opening day of the preceding Test in the series - at Brisbane two weeks ago. In that match, Langer and Hayden assembled a partnership of 224 before wickets fell in quick succession.

This time around, their liaison had stretched to 223 before matters for a good-natured local crowd were marred by a mistimed drive from Langer at paceman Chris Cairns (1/81) that deposited the ball in Daniel Vettori's hands at around waist height at cover.

Hayden then succumbed to the old curse that often strikes in the wake of a mammoth stand, falling just 14 minutes after his partner had made his exit. His error was to pick out Bond at long on as he advanced and aimed a powerful lofted drive at Vettori (2/51).

And then Waugh (12) failed to cash in on his team's blinding start by also encountering difficulty as he swiftly came down the track at the spinner. Vettori pitched the ball short of a driveable length, impelling the right hander to somehow play outside the line as it continued on its path toward the stumps.

Local hero Ricky Ponting (20*) and Steve Waugh (0*) then piloted their team to tea without any further breaches of the defences, though they would be well-advised to play especially watchfully again after the break given that they also fell to low scores amid the mini-collapse in Brisbane.

Ponting, for his part, survived two major alarms just before the break when he was metaphorically cut in half by a brute of a leg cutter from Bond and then slashed the very next ball just over the head of gully.

Waugh, similarly, was not in complete control as he fended a delivery later in the same over just wide of a despairing short leg. Suddenly, the pitch about which Langer and Hayden might have been enthusing in the dressing room was not looking all that it was cracked up to be.

LANGER LASHES NEW ZEALANDERS AT START OF TEST

Opening batsman Justin Langer (78*) has set Australia away to a cracking start to the Second Test against New Zealand here at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today. After his opponents won the toss, Langer made a mockery of overcast and cool conditions - as well as a green-tinged pitch - that were expected to assist the bowlers by flaying an unbeaten half-century. With a much more subdued Matthew Hayden (37*) at the other end, he has piloted the hosts to a mark of 0/126 by lunch.

Initially, Langer's innings was the composite of a mixture of strokes. He experienced his second early life in as many Tests against New Zealand when Matthew Bell missed a regulation catch at point, slightly to his right and around head height, with the Western Australian's score at just 1.

There were also some early plays and misses, and a rousing lbw appeal from Daryl Tuffey (0/41) - who had earlier been the unfortunate bowler when Bell transgressed - as his score reached 10.

Yet, though there was some evidence of movement in the air and off the seam for the Black Caps' trio of pace bowlers, he was quickly setting about his work with relish. On his way to a half-century off the mere matter of 49 deliveries, there were several glorious drives through the covers and also some cracking pull strokes off the back foot. No less than ten boundaries were unfurled from his blade in the opening 43 minutes of action.

Though they managed to contain Hayden, whose scoring rate was so dwarfed by Langer that his partner had tallied 58 before the Queenslander notched his second run, all four of the bowlers that New Zealand utilised in the session failed to honour their captain's earlier victory at the toss.

Even their main attacking weapon, left arm spinner Daniel Vettori (0/23) - for whom there was evidence of good early bounce from the pitch - was rapidly hit out of the attack with 15 runs smashed contemptuously from his third over.

Continuing his Test love affair with a ground that provided possibly the highest moment in his career just two years ago, it has been Langer's session. Back then, he fashioned a remarkable 238-run partnership with fellow left hander Adam Gilchrist to guide Australia to an astonishing win over Pakistan.

The unconquered Hayden is also a left hander and Gilchrist, for his part, is listed today to bat at number seven in this innings.

So far, the omens for New Zealand are not at all good.

FLEMING STRIKES FIRST BLOW BY WINNING TOSS

On an overcast morning in Hobart, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming has struck the first blow in this Second Test against Australia by winning the toss and inviting his opponents to bat first on a pitch expected to serve up some early life for the bowlers.

The Kiwis enter the Test with something of a mixed set of lead-up results behind them. Their last effort - earlier in the week - was a disappointing 17-run loss to South Australia in Adelaide, and there still hasn't been a win as yet at any stage of the tour. But they will be particularly encouraged by their performance in the First Test at the 'Gabba when they ran to within a narrow margin of chasing down a victory target in a thrilling drawn finish on the last day.

The visitors have made two enforced changes to the eleven that took the field for that game, replacing the injured Dion Nash and Shayne O'Connor with fellow pace bowlers Daryl Tuffey and Shane Bond. Bond makes his Test debut here.

For Australia, meanwhile, it's a case of returning to business as usual. After participating in their first Test draw in more than two years in that match in Brisbane two weeks ago, the hosts have named an unchanged eleven, again leaving Queensland paceman Andy Bichel to perform the drink waiting duties and a few others besides.