Australia v New Zealand, 2nd Test, Day 5 - It's a draw!

Australia gave the Kiwis a target of 321 runs in 48 overs and when rain robbed further 90 minutes of play, the runs-engorged Test match ended in a draw without any twist in the tale. Steve Smith’s declaration should have been a bit earlier so that his bowlers would get enough time to fetch ten wickets.

While dealing with such tricky situations, Smith acts pretty defensively, which is quite un-Australian. Someone like Mark Taylor or Michael Clarke would have been adventurous in such situations. Well, I hope Smith is really blessed with that Australian-mojo which has made one of their fans since the days of Allan Border.

Mitchell Johnson looked good. Yes, he recaptured the fire and dismissed two batsmen. There were those fuller deliveries fired into the batsmen and those short-pitched cannon balls which harassed the batters all over the world for a while if not for a brief period. But, we shall not see more of him as the Australians are expected to invest faith in the rejuvenated James Pattinson in the inaugural day-night Test match at Adelaide.

New Zealand have fared well in this Test match and this performance will help them a lot to crank up their confidence. In fact, they rediscover their confidence against their big neighbours more often. The Aussies have to be careful at Adelaide.  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar