Australia will take on New Zealand in the second Test match of the two match series to be played at Seddon Park in Hamilton. The Aussies won the first Test match rather easily by ten wickets and will look to make a clean sweep of the Tests after they were held to a 1-1 draw in the T20Is, and managed to win the ODI series 3-2.

New Zealand, on the other hand, will know that if they have to come anywhere close to winning the Test match, they have to play much better than what they did in the previous game. The New Zealand batting in the first innings was at best, abysmal, and they will need to up their ante in the top-order.

Already, the Kiwis have received a bad news as Daryl Tuffey has been ruled out of the second Test match. That will mean that there could be a new bowler coming into the line-up, but more than anything, they have also called up a new 19-year old, Kane Williamson in the squad, which could mean that the a bowler-batsman swap could be in line.

Mathew Sinclair was already a part of the New Zealand squad in the previous game but had not made it to the playing eleven. There is a good chance that Sinclair may get the chance to play in the match and Williamson would just be backing him up in case of any injuries at the 11th hour.

The Aussies, on the other hand, have been on a roll. Ever since losing the Ashes, the Aussies have featured in seven Test matches and have won all but one, which had ended in a draw. Of course, the teams may have been only West Indies and Pakistan, apart from New Zealand, but this does mean that the side is regaining its original form back and it would be interesting to see if the Kiwis can come with something to stop their juggernaut.

The best bit about the Australia side right now is that whilst batting first, they have been scoring anywhere in the region of 450-500 and declaring their innings instead of trying to go the distance and batting out their opposition. This stems from the fact that their bowling has struggled to pick p 20 wickets in previous games and hence, the captain allows his bowlers much time to do so.

One gets the sense that the Kiwis will need to bat first irrespective of the conditions, pile on a reasonably good total and then apply pressure on the opposition if they need to hold any chance in the game.

Tag :- Australia   Daryl Tuffey   Kane Williamson   New Zealand