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Australia vs New Zealand Boxing Day Test talking points, day two

Tim Paine has brought out the banter once again, clipping Kiwi star Ross Taylor after a bizarre day dragged the DRS back into the spotlight.

Andrew McMurtryAndrew McMurtry
@AndrewMcMurtry
6 min read
December 27, 2019 - 9:51PM
Tim Paine was having a lot of fun.
Tim Paine was having a lot of fun.

Australia have consolidated their position on day two of the second Test against New Zealand, piling on 467 thanks to Travis Head’s second Test century.

Getting into the field late in the day, Australia then struck twice to have New Zealand 2/44 at stumps with a mountain to climb to keep the series alive.

Here are the biggest talking points from day two at the MCG.

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‘ANGRY’ PAINE’S HILARIOUS DRS SLEDGE

Aussie captain Tim Paine’s controversial DRS dismissal has divided the cricketing world after he was dismissed from a seemingly impossible angle around the stumps.

But it wasn’t the only call of the day with three controversial calls dragging technology back into the cricketing spotlight.

Paine was the only one given out with Travis Head surviving an odd call, while New Zealand’s Ross Taylor also survived a strong call.

Taylor was given out with all the commentators thinking he looked dead to rights but successfully overturned the LBW call with the ball going well over according to the technology.

But Paine, the master of the cheeky banter, has once again pulled out a classic.

“Christ — that’s twice I’ve seen him dead out plumb and not given,” Paine said. “Did you see Broady hit him in the pad in New Zealand? It was absolutely hitting middle stump and they had it missing leg. He knows the bloke in the truck.”

Taylor defended himself: “Only problem is I actually hit that one in New Zealand. That’s why I wasn’t moving.”

But Taylor was dreaming if he thought that would stop the sledging.

“Did you touch it though, I don’t think you did,” Paine added.

Later, Nathan Lyon was bowling to Taylor and was just squeezed away on the leg side and Paine couldn’t let it pass.

“Probably going over, depends on what Rosco’s mate in the van says,” he added.

While Paine batted well for his 79, his highest score as Australian Test captain, his dismissal left fans scratching their heads.

Replays showed Paine stepping forward towards the pitch of the ball, in a movement that had his front pad flirting with the line of off stump.

Tim Paine was given out somewhat controversially.
Tim Paine was given out somewhat controversially.

The DRS showed the ball cut back into Paine just inside the line of off stump and was going on to hit middle stump.

The DRS prediction baffled commentators who claimed it didn’t make any sense that Wagner’s ball could have cut back into Paine so dramatically, struck him in line and also gone on to hit middle stump three-quarters of the way up.

Even the commentators were perplexed with Mike Hussey and Adam Gilchrist both saying they were surprised by the overturned call.

At stumps, Paine spoke to ABC Grandstand but when asked he said “don’t start”.

“I would have liked it to have been outside the line,” he said. “I thought from the length that it pitched, and the bloke bowling around the wicket, it’s pretty difficult to hit you in line, and hit the stumps. I think it pitched about seven metres, and still hit halfway up.

“And then you get one late tonight which, the guy’s stuck on the crease, he’s hit really full and it’s going over, so it’s disappointing and it makes me angry.

“It’s probably why my review system is so bad because I’ve clearly got no idea.”

Paine admitted the Aussies would have referred the decision if it hadn’t been given out.

“I’ve got a few doubts, no doubt about that,” he said. “I won’t go into it too far because I’ll get in trouble but I’m just seeing time and time again, what I see to the naked eye, or watching it on television in real time, and then what it comes up as, is sometimes a little bit off the mark.”

It was even more baffling considering Head was saved by the DRS after being given not out with the ball deemed to be too close to overturn despite seemingly taking a large proportion of the stumps.

“We discussed it earlier about this umpires call and that ball was hitting the stumps,” Kerry O’Keeffe told Fox Cricket.

“New Zealanders of course are not liking it, but the original decision stands.”

Then Taylor’s dismissal had Paine wondering what he’d done to annoy Taylor’s “mate in the van”.

HEAD SAVES THE DAY, HIS CAREER

But Travis Head appears to have saved his Test career.

The No. 6 has had a pile of pressure on his shoulders after being dropped for the final Ashes Test and not having much to do this summer so far.

In the Pakistan series, he batted just once, while he hit a 50 in the first Test in Perth.

But in his fourth Test of the summer, Head hit his second Test century.

Travis Head has done it.
Travis Head has done it.

It comes after plenty of speculation the South Australian could have been dropped with five bowlers floated for the Boxing Day Test.

His second century however should see the batsman hold his position in the team.

It’s been tough commentary on Head who, heading into Boxing Day, had an average of 40.82, higher than Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Steve Smith, Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh to name a few legends after 15 Test matches.

As the Australian vice-captain, Head has even been floated as a future captain.

Already captaining his state, former England skipper Michael Vaughan said Head could be the man to fill the leadership gap at the top of Aussie cricket.

“(Travis Head is) a potential future Australia captain,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket. “He’s got leadership potential. He just needs to get lots of runs, lots of hundreds.

“If he does that over the next year or so, when Tim Paine steps aside he could be the next Australian captain.

“He’s got runs pretty much wherever he’s gone. He’s just got to get to that Smith, Labuschagne mode of getting hundreds on a regular basis.”

Mark Waugh was also behind Head to score big.

“No. 6 is a tough time to bat because you often get the second new ball,” Waugh said on Fox Cricket. “I like his style. He just needs to convert those 40s and 50s, which he will do.”

Stream the AUS v NZ Domain Test Series LIVE & Ad-Break Free During Play on KAYO with FOX CRICKET’s unmatched commentary line-up. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

MCG CROWD RESPOND TO BOXING DAY QUESTIONS

The Kiwis are also out in force.
The Kiwis are also out in force.

Victorian cricket fans have responded with their feet after suggestions the Boxing Day Test match should be taken away from Melbourne.

Day one had over 80,000 fans in the stands which was the highest non-Ashes first day crowd since 1975.

29,000 fans were there to start the day with 59,676 coming through the turnstiles on day two, another non-Ashes Boxing Day record.

But after pitch issues in previous years and the infamous Sheffield Shield abandonment last month, questions were raised about the future at the MCG.

Early in the day, Adam Gilchrist asked Shane Warne what he thought of the match being moved.

“It just doesn’t need to be,” Warne said of the suggestions. “I don’t know why people even suggest it. You won’t have anywhere else in the world that gets 200,000 people over a Test match.

“But you still need a good pitch. I thought it was a decent pitch, the ball did something, it was a fair contest between bat and ball. The Boxing Day Test should be in Melbourne, it shouldn’t leave here.”

But Warney wasn’t done, floating the possibility of a day-night Boxing Day Test.

“I absolutely love tradition but things evolve,” he said. “To add something to the Boxing Day Test match, I think it could be worth a try.”

WARNE SWIPES KIWI LAUGHING STOCK

“Tuck your shirt in mate, it’s not club cricket.”

And with that the greatest spinner of them all let Kiwi left-armer Mitchell Santner what he thought of his work with the ball – and his etiquette.

Mitchell Santner can’t seem to get anything right on Boxing Day.
Mitchell Santner can’t seem to get anything right on Boxing Day.

Shane Warne had just dissected Santner’s “jerky” bowling action and lack of turn on the MCG wicket when he turned to his appearance.

At 0-50 off 10 overs, Santner was showing precious little hope of penetrating the Australians’ defence. In fact, runs were slowing so freely from him that some on social media were unkindly calling him “Santner Claus”.

Santner’s lacklustre bowling was positively sparkling compared to Test bowling debutant Tom Blundell, who was handed the ball in the first over after lunch and proved as untidy as Santner’s uniform.

Warne wasn’t the only one clapping the Kiwis with former star Scott Styris taking aim New Zealand’s “panic” in term of selections.

— with Foxsports.com.au

Originally published as Australia vs New Zealand Boxing Day Test talking points, day two

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