The Cricket Season in Australia is pretty much over, but just across the ditch in neighboring New Zealand there is one more short Test Series to be played before we give Test Cricket a break. Considering the relatively weak opposition that Australia has faced over the summer, this 2 game Test Series against New Zealand may well end up being the most important of the season for one big reason...
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New Zealand is currently sitting on TOP of the World Test Championship Table, while Australia is in 3rd. This is an interesting state of affairs because New Zealand has only played 4 Tests (Winning 3), while Australia has played 10 Tests (Winning 6) in the same period. This is due to the way that the World Test Championship is scored, however Australia are the Current World Test Champions and New Zealand is the Previous World Test Champions from 2021. This series could legitimately be considered to be between the Test Cricket heavy-weights and a Top-Of-The-Table Clash so Australia will be very keen to knock their local rivals off the top.
As a result I’d expect this Test Series to be fairly fiercely contested. Australia probably has the stronger team on paper, however New Zealand has home ground advantage so it might end up being very close. Once again a lot will depend on the pitches and conditions. In New Zealand the ball can Swing a bit and pitches can be a bit Greenish and Seam, or alternatively be Brown, Thatchy and Flat. I am not expecting Spin Bowling to be a big factor in this series.
Both teams have solid Pace, Swing and Seam bowling attacks so I think it’s going to come down to the Batsmen to be the deciding factor. Kane Williamson is back for New Zealand and as one of the worlds best batsmen he’s a key man in this series. For New Zealand to be competitive I think he needs to get a couple of big 100s. With any luck we’ll see 2 good Test Matches that make it into the 5th Day.