Australia v New Zealand: first Test, day one

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Milestones to keep one’s eye on: David Warner needs 53 runs to reach 7000 in Test cricket, the same mark that Steve Smith blew past against Pakistan. Warner has taken a few more innings, and his career average dipped below 50 with the battering he took in England this year, but he’s back up to high 48s and could be back past the mark by the end of the summer.

When New Zealand bat, I want to see if Tim Southee can hit a six to move to 73 career sixes, thus equalling Ricky Ponting. Southee is already 15th on the all-time list, ahead of big-hitting luminaries like AB de Villiers, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shahid Afridi, Ian Botham, Clive Lloyd, Ben Stokes and Sachin Tendulkar.

4.38am GMT04:38

Teams

Boult is out, Lockie Ferguson will make his Test debut. A handy inclusion on this wicket where he can unleash his pace and his short ball. The seam-up all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme has recovered from his recent injury.

Australia
David Warner
Joe Burns
Marnus Labuschagne
Steve Smith
Matthew Wade
Travis Head
Tim Paine
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood

New Zealand
Tom Latham
Jeet Raval
Kane Williamson
Ross Taylor
Henry Nicholls
BJ Watling
Colin de Grandhomme
Mitchell Santner
Tim Southee
Neil Wagner
Lockie Ferguson

4.35am GMT04:35

Australia win the toss and bat

No surprises there – Tim Paine says with a smile that after bowling first at The Oval, he’ll never do it again. Best to bat first on this surface though. Kane Williamson smiles wryly at the thought of standing in the field for another 600-run innings, and says there’s some moisture in the wicket so they’ll just have to make the most of it. Good luck…

4.33am GMT04:33

Preamble

Geoff Lemon

Aloha Hawaii. It’s Test time yet again, and time for New Zealand to become the main event of the cricketing summer. It’s, hot, hot, hot in Perth, 40-plus predicted for most of the match, and while Optus Stadium may presently sporting a greenish tinge as it did last year, it should offer bounce and bake and open up as this match progresses. Australia will field the same XI that pulverised Pakistan twice in a row, but Trent Boult looks to be missing for New Zealand through injury. More on line-ups as they come through. The No.2-ranked Kiwis are supposed to give Australia a run for their money in this three-match series. The formbook suggests New Zealand might even win. But precedent is against them: we’ve had 22 Tests on these shores since the Kiwis last won a Test match in Australia. That was at the Waca way back in 1985, the year Mental As Anything unleashed Live It Up on the expectant masses (RIP Andrew ‘Greedy’ Smith). It’s not crazy to imagine that New Zealand can compete on this tour but they’ll have to beat history as well as Australia. Sam Perry has already had his thoughts on this, as did I a few days ago.

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Australia v New Zealand: first Test, day one – live!

Teams

Australia win the toss and bat

Preamble

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