NZ v Aus 1st Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

New Zealand didn’t play to potential on day one of the first Test and the Aussies held the advantage at the end of the day. After winning the toss, Australia opted to bowl first and Smith’s decision cashed on immediately as Josh Hazlewood removed Tom Latham and Martin Guptill early in New Zealand’s innings. Without Ross Taylor, New Zealand depended on their future captain Kane Williamson and skipper Brendon McCullum but both got out quickly along with debutant Henry Nicholas.

At one stage, New Zealand were 51 for 5 but due to their lower middle order and tail-enders contribution, they managed to get a total of 183 runs. For Australia, Hazlewood took 4 wickets while Siddle and Lyon took 3 wickets, for New Zealand Mark Craig made 41* runs and Corey Anderson scored 38 valuable runs.

Australia also started badly in their 1st innings, Tim Southee removed both Aussie openers while their score was just 5 runs but in-form Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith batted well and added 126 runs for the 3rd wicket. Smith was out on 71 runs while Khawaja remained unbeaten on 57* runs along with Adam Voges who was batting on 7. Overall it was a good day of Test cricket where 300 runs were scored and 13 wickets fell.

Here are the Statistical Highlights of the NZ v Aus 1^st Test, Day 1:

6^th – Brendon McCullum became the 6th captain who was out on duck in his 100th Test match. Today, he scored a duck against Australia on day 1 of the 1st Test match at Wellington. Other five captains who had been out on duck in their 100th Test match are Allan Border, Stephen Fleming, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mark Taylor and Alastair Cook.

0 – Number of players who played 100 or more consecutive Test matches from debut before Brendon McCullum. This Test match against Australia is his 100th consecutive Test match since his debut and he became the first player to achieve this milestone.

3^rd – Brendon McCullum became third New Zealand player to have featured in 100 or more Test matches. The other two who have represented New Zealand in 100 or more than 100 Test matches are Daniel Vettori (112) and Stephen Fleming (111).

14 – Number of times Brendon McCullum had been out on a duck in his Test career which is the 5th most time among other New Zealand players. Other four players ahead of him are Chris Martin (36), D Morrison (24), D Vettori (19), S Fleming (16) and K Rutherford (16).

26 – Number of times New Zealand team have been bowled out against Australia 200 runs or under 200 runs in Test matches. Today, New Zealand were bowled out against Australia in 1st Test match at Wellington on the score of 183 runs.

43 – Number of times any team has been bowled out 200 or under while playing at the Basin Reserve, Wellington in Tests. Today, when New Zealand was bowled out on 183 in just 48.0 overs against Australia it was the 43rd instance.

140.25 – Average at which Usman Khawaja has scored his 561 runs in 5 Test matches since January 1, 2015, which is highest among players who have scored more than 500 runs in Tests since 1 January 2015.

54 – Number of wickets taken by Nathan Lyon since January 1, 2015, in Tests which is second most by any spinner in Tests after India’s Ravi Ashwin who has 62 wickets in 9 matches since January 1, 2015. Lyon has taken 54 wickets in 15 matches. Today, he took 3 wickets against New Zealand in 1st Test match at Wellington.

56 – Number of Wickets taken by Josh Hazlewood since January 1, 2015, in Tests which is second most by any fast bowler in Tests after England’s Stuart Broad who has taken 69 wickets in 17 matches since January 1, 2015. Josh Hazlewood has taken 56 wickets in 14 matches. Today, he took 4 wickets against New Zealand in 1^st Test match at Wellington.

15^th– Number of fifties scored by Steven Smith in his Test career till this day. Today, he scored 71 runs in 112 balls against New Zealand.

4^th – Number of fifties scored by Usman Khawaja in his Test career till this day. Today, he scored 57* runs from 96 balls.