Australia vs New Zealand, 2nd Test at Perth, Preview: Hosts aim to seal series

Australia and New Zealand lock horns in the second game of the ongoing three-match Test series at Perth on Friday. The Australians will eye to seal the series in the coming five days after they thrashed New Zealand by 208 runs in the opening game of the series at Brisbane. The third match will be the first-ever day-night Test, and since the conditions are still unknown, the hosts definitely will not want to risk their series victory by taking the Perth game casually. Australia thoroughly dominated the Brisbane Test in all departments. While David Warner scored two centuries, Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja had a ton each to their name, thereby helping their side posting a huge total on the board. LIVE SCORECARD, Australia vs New Zealand, 2nd Test at Perth 

Warner is 72 runs away from a total of 4,000 Test runs, and if he gets there at some point in his next three innings he will become the fourth-fastest Australian to the milestone, after Don Bradman, Matthew Hayden and Neil Harvey. Meanwhile, the Black Caps should heave a sigh of relief as their best Test batsman at the moment, Kane Williamson, seemed to have adjusted the Australian conditions. He appeared untroubled for the most part during his knocks of 140 and 59 in the first Test, and thus will be the key at the WACA.

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The pitch is known to be fast bowling-friendly, so a lot is in store for the pacers. New Zealand duo Tim Southee and Trent Boult have the best chance to dominate the hosts’ batting line-up. On the other hand, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc will be very handy, with the former needing just one wicket to move ahead of Brett Lee and into overall fourth on Australia’s all-time Test wicket tally.

Australian skipper Steven Smith has confirmed that hosts will go into play with an unchanged side, meaning Peter Siddle has to wait more before he gets a place in the Test squad. According to ESPNCricinfo, Smith also admitted that he enjoyed the dominating win against Brendon McCullum’s side in the first game. “We’ll go with the same team. Conditions are going to be pretty similar to the Gabba, the groundsman thinks there’s going to be a fair bit of pace and bounce,” he added. READ: Mitchell Johnson reveals retirement plans ahead of AUS vs NZ 2nd Test at Perth

On the other hand, the visitors are in a fix with their all-rounder Jimmy Neesham being ruled out of the remainder of the series with a back injury. To exacerbate the situation, Southee couldn’t bowl after the first innings at Gabba due to back problem. However Southee seems likely to be included in the squad for the second match.

Squads:

Australia (Playing XI): Joe Burns, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (c), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

New Zealand (likely XI): Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (c), BJ Watling (wk), Mark Craig, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee/Neil Wagner, Matt Henry, Trent Boult.

Time: 10:30 Local │ 02:30 GMT │ 08:00 IST

(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.” Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)