Australia’s first red-ball tour to New Zealand in eight years has been locked in as a two-Test collection, to the dismay of many together with workhorse seamer Neil Wagner.
Pat Cummins’ aspect will head to New Zealand in February for Tests at Wellington’s Basin Reserve and Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
The long-delayed trans-Tasman contest will likely be a conflict of the primary two World Test Championship winners.
Despite the dominance of antipodean cricket and the normal rivalry, which runs deep in New Zealand, the Test collection will take 13 days at most.
Wagner informed AAP the brief tour was “a shame” however was real looking in regards to the schedule calls for in trendy cricket.
“It comes down to money and it comes down to where we are in the world with viewership and timezones,” he stated.
“We’re a small fish within the pond.
“If we are able to play extra Tests, that’d be thrilling. I’m extraordinarily jealous of different groups who play three and four-Test match collection. It’s extraordinary for us.”
Wagner stated gamers “100 per cent” wanted longer Test tours, which are now largely the province of the big three: Australia, England and India.
Last summer, Wellington played host to one of the all-time great matches when Wagner dismissed Jimmy Anderson to clinch a dramatic one-run victory in the second Test and draw the series with England.
“Playing a two-Test collection and it ending off with a 1-1 draw, it was simply screaming out for an additional Test,” Wagner said.
NZ Cricket executive Graham Parks said he’d had discussions with Australia about a longer schedule but it was impossible under the Future Tours Programme (FTP).
“You’d all the time prefer to play extra video games however the challenges we face throughout the FTP is availability,” he told AAP at Tuesday’s release of NZ Cricket’s summer schedule.
New Zealand’s most recent Test showing against Australia, when they were swept 3-0 in the 2019/20 summer on the road to becoming world test champions, still rankles.
Wagner, the second-ranked Test bowler in the world at the time, said the side were itching for another crack.
“(In 2019) we tried to throw a few punches and it simply did not work,” he stated.
“It’s good to play Australia in our circumstances. They’re a staff on high of their recreation in the mean time, rightfully No.1 on this planet.”
Australia will also play three T20 matches against New Zealand in February – one in Wellington and two at Auckland’s Eden Park.
New Zealand last hosted Australia for Test cricket in 2016, at the same venues earmarked for the 2024 tour.
Australia crushed New Zealand by an innings at the Basin before suffering a seven-wicket loss at Hagley Oval, when a recalled Wagner took 6-106.
New Zealand have won a solitary Test against Australia in 30 years, a seven-run victory at Hobart’s Bellerive in 2011.
AUSTRALIAN MEN’S TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
First T20 – February 21 (Sky Stadium, Wellington)
Second T20 – February 23 (Eden Park, Auckland)
Third T20 – February 25 (Eden Park, Auckland)
First Test – February 29 – March 4 (Basin Reserve, Wellington)
Second Test – March 8-12 (Hagley Oval, Christchurch)
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
