Australia out to spoil NZ’s milestone party

CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand will honour two of their great servants when Kane Williamson and captain Tim Southee play their 100th Test in Christchurch but Australia stand poised to torpedo the celebrations by completing a series sweep.

Eight years after Brendon McCullum’s farewell Test was spoiled by Australia at Hagley Oval, the Black Caps will be desperate to give Williamson and Southee a win to square the two-match series.

Australia, however, are celebrating a milestone of their own -- one which is likely to have a greater bearing on the result. Their bowling ‘fab four’ of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon will combine for an unprecedented seventh straight Test, a rare run of injury-free action for one of the nation’s great attacks. “I think I said at the start of the summer I’d be surprised if we played all seven because it’s rare that something doesn’t pop up,” captain Cummins told reporters on Thursday.

“But thankfully we’ve all managed the little niggles ... pretty well. “We’re not limping over the line, and we feel like we’re in a greater position than I thought we’d be in a couple of months ago.”

What New Zealand would do for such consistency in manpower.

Having lost Kyle Jamieson to a back fracture in a bitter blow before the series, New Zealand are forced to blood uncapped quick Ben Sears in Christchurch following Will O’Rourke’s hamstring injury in the Wellington defeat.

The hosts remain at sixes and sevens over the choice of a fourth bowler after paying dearly for the lack of a specialist spinner at the Basin Reserve where Nathan Lyon took 10 wickets.