TOPIC:

Hopefully this is the last Test Wade ever plays for Australia.
I would be staggered if he is in our best 5 bats in the country, the upcoming tour to Bangladesh in Winter is a perfect opportunity to blood a new batsman to take his place.

If Pucovski scores a 100 or 2 post BBL BH...he surely must be in the mix....think Wade will ride those two Ashes 100s for a bit longer....but agree hope he is not around for the India series....not sure about the opening spot tho....Burns will probably go to Bangladesh but I reckon the Indians will enjoy seeing Burns opening later in the year....

Great knock by Labuschagne....again... obviously cashing in big time this run feast of his....hopefully he can do a Smith and take it deep for the next few years....Smith and Labuschagne could be the cornerstone of some healthy Aust totals....enabling Aust fast boys to do what they do best...attack attack attack

I thought the Sydney pitch would suit the Kiwis more than the faster, bouncier tracks like Perth and so far they are making a decent fist of it in their first innings at 1/107.

most of us thought NZ would have some work to do on the fast bouncy wickets but the way they've collapsed is surprising given their recent form
far from the usual hard fought Trans-Tasman series

Wagner has carried their bowling and two inexperienced players in Blundell and Phillips have shown up their more illustrious batsmen. They really haven't been in the series since day 1 of the Perth test, very disappointing for them. The Aussies have been great this summer and next season India return I think which will be a challenge for the team.

what was i saying about Erasmus the other day? It is no good being a not outer to one team an outer to the other

Yeah that looked a pretty ordinary LBW there against Latham. Those things seem to always go against the struggling teams, the Kiwis have just not been able to catch a break in this series.

mikeh wrote: Yeah that looked a pretty ordinary LBW there against Latham. Those things seem to always go against the struggling teams, the Kiwis have just not been able to catch a break in this series.

Mikeh....think Boult and Henry would disagree there mate with their current injuries....have enjoyed this series immensely....the Kiwis have gone extraordinarily quiet over here....

Just to reiterate how much work Wagner has done in the 3 tests, New Zealand have bowled 627 overs in the series so an average of 209 overs per match. Wagner has bowled 157 of those overs or a quarter of them. Often in very oppressive conditions as well. De Grand Homme was next with 111 then Southee with 100.

ended the way it started for NZ - fell away badly to lose all three by big margins
makes it interesting in the middle of the points table with a few countries around the same point bracket
India & Australia have cleared out in one/two now