New Zealand-Australia Test: 5 things to look forward to
Australia and New Zealand have had a long standing rivalryThe rivalry between the two Trans-Tasmanian nations goes back to 1894 when New Zealand played New South Wales at Lancaster Park and lost by 160 runs but came back strongly a couple of years later to square it at the same venue by 142 runs.After those early encounters, exchanges between the two teams reduced as the Australians did not consider New Zealand to be good enough to play.The first official Test was finally played in the year 1946, at Basin Reserve. From then till date, the battles between the two nations have only got better, snowballing expectations whenever they are pitted against each other.When Brendon McCullum leads his side in the upcoming three-match Test series, they will look to be aggressive and the series promises to be a humdinger. Such clashes do the world good in reviving cricket, the passion and the competition between the bat and the ball.In the 21 Test series they have locked horns in Australia, the Aussies have won it 12 times whereas the Kiwis have reigned supreme on just three occasions and the rest were drawn. That stat speaks volumes of the domination Australia has enjoyed over the Kiwi’s.But this time things are bound to be different, maybe the Kiwis might draw first blood because this is an Australian team in transition. Let us now dwell on the 5 things that can be expected from this upcoming encounter.
#1 Aggressive Brendon McCullum
New Zealand has always been associated with boring cricket, but they are the complete opposite now. This New Zealand team has a lot of self-confidence and self-belief. Tough Tests cannot be compared to One-Day Internationals but still with the kind of form the players are in they could give change they have been perceived in the past.
It is always said that the attitude of the skipper is contagious and rubs off on the other players in the team and if that is the case we are in for a hot summer in Australia. McCullum will hold the key hence he has to set the ball rolling for others to follow.