Australia Beats New Zealand By 3 Wickets: Clean Sweep In 2 Test Match Series

Australia has made a 2-0 clean sweep in the two-Test series by defeating New Zealand by 3 wickets in the Christchurch Test. On the fourth day at Hagley Oval ground, the Kangaroo team needed 202 runs to win. He had 6 wickets left in his hands. Australia achieved the target with 3 wickets remaining on the basis of Alex Carey's unbeaten inning of 98 runs.

By the end of the third day's play, Australia had scored 77 runs for 4 wickets in the second innings. Earlier, New Zealand scored 372 runs in the second innings and gave Australia a target of 279 runs. In the first innings, New Zealand scored 162 runs, and Australia scored 256 runs.

Mitchell Marsh Handled The Innings By Partnering With Head And Carey

On the fourth day, the Kangaroo team lost the fifth wicket at the score of 80 while playing ahead by 77 runs. Travis Head faced 43 balls and scored 18 runs. However, Head helped take over the Australian innings by making a partnership of 46 runs from 66 balls for the fifth wicket with Mitchell Marsh. After that, there was a partnership of 140 runs in 174 balls between Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey, who took the sixth wicket. Marsh scored 80 runs in 102 balls. Marsh was out on the team score of 220. With this score, Mitchell Starc was also out without opening the account, and Australia suffered the seventh blow.

Pat Cummins And Carey Made A Partnership Of 61 Runs For The Eighth

After this, Carey made an unbeaten partnership of 61 runs on 64 balls for the eighth wicket for Pat Cummins and led the team to victory. Alex Carey scored an unbeaten 98 runs on 123 balls, and Pat Cummins scored an unbeaten 32 runs on 44 balls.

Australia Lost 4 Wickets For 34 Runs

Australia had a bad start while chasing the target of 279 runs. The team lost the wicket of opener Steve Smith on the score of 15 runs on the third day of the match. Smith was out after scoring 9 runs. After him, Usman Khawaja was out after scoring 11 runs, Marnus Labuschagne 6, and Cameron Green after scoring 5 runs.

The Kangaroo team lost 4 wickets on the score of 34 runs. Ben Sears and Matt Henry got 2-2 wickets. From here, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh took over Australia. Head returned not out after scoring 17 runs and Marsh 27 runs.

Labuschagne's Fifty In The First Innings Against Australia

Australia started their innings after bowling out New Zealand early in the first innings. The team scored 256 runs thanks to Marnus Labuschagne's 90 runs and took a lead of 96 runs in the first innings. Apart from Labuschagne, no other batsman from Australia could score fifty.

Matt Henry took 7 wickets from New Zealand. He gave only 67 runs in 23 overs. Captain Tim Southee, Ben Sears, and Glenn Phillips got 1-1 success.

Australia Team Reached Second Place In WTC Points Table

Australia has now played a total of 12 matches in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, winning 8 and losing only 3. At the same time, one match was also a draw. Australia has got 62.50% points; the team is in second place. India is at first, and New Zealand is at third.