2nd Test, Australia beat New Zealand: List of records broken
Team Australia is enjoying a bumper spell of Test cricket at the moment. Tim Paine's side beat New Zealand by 247 runs to win the second Test match at the MCG. With this win, Australia sealed the series 2-0 with one more match to play. Tom Blundell's ton wasn't enough for Kiwis, who failed yet again. Here are the records broken.
How did the Test match pan out?
Australia, who were put to bat by the Kiwis, managed a staggering 467 in the first innings. Travis Head scored a sublime century. In reply, New Zealand were bundled for a paltry 148. Pat Cummins (5/28) excelled for the hosts. Australia declared at 168/5 in the second innings. The Kiwis faltered in the chase and were bowled out for 240. Nathan Lyon claimed 4/81.
Cummins and Labuschagne end 2019 on a high note
Cummins was superb once again for Australia and the pacer ended 2019 with a whopping 59 wickets under his belt. He averaged 20.13 and claimed two five-wicket hauls. Marnus Labuschagne, who scored 63 in the first innings, ended 2019 as the highest run-scorer (1,105). He was the only batsman with 1,000-plus runs. The batsman smashed three hundreds and seven fifties.
Smith enters top 10 club for Australia in Tests
Steve Smith, who scored 85 and 7 in the Test match, now has 7,164 career runs in the format. He smashed his 28th career Test fifty. Smith went past former Australian captain Greg Chappell in terms of career Test runs (7,110). He entered the top 10 list in terms of Test runs for Australia. Smith also smashed 965 runs this year at 74.23.
Some of the batting feats registered in this Test match
Travis Head registered his second career Test century. The southpaw surpassed the 1,000-run mark in Tests as well (1,081). Aussie skipper Tim Paine (79) hit his seventh career Test fifty. New Zealand opener Tom Blundell (121) amassed his second career Test century. Tom Latham, who got a fifty in the first innings, registered his 16th career Test fifty.
Here are the bowling feats registered by the Australians
Cummins has raced to 139 career Test scalps for Australia. He surpassed former Aussie international Max Walker (138 wickets). Nathan Lyon now has 380 career Test scalps to his name. He claimed the second-highest wickets in 2019 (45). Mitchell Starc ended 2019 on 42 wickets. His tally was the third-best for the Aussies. He now has 240 career Test scalps.
Neil Wagner is the second-fastest Kiwi to 200 Test scalps
New Zealand's left-arm pacer Neil Wagner claimed seven wickets in the Test. He finished as the leading wicket-taker for New Zealand in 2019 (43). He also went past the 200-wicket mark in Tests (201). Wagner is now the seventh Kiwi bowler to claim 200-plus wickets in Test cricket. He achieved the feat in his 46th Test and became the second-fastest Kiwi after Richard Hadlee.
