Andrew Alderson and Dylan Cleaver discuss the permutations of the Black Caps potentially going to the top of the world rankings - officially rather than provisionally - and making the world championship final if they beat Pakistan in the 2nd cricket test at Christchurch. Video / Andrew Alderson
New Zealand have five more days to stake a claim to be part of the biggest test match of the year- and arguably of all time – and return to a happy hunting ground to do so.
Hagley Oval will host its eighth test, with New Zealand having failed to win just twice on the ground, and never against Asian opposition.
New Zealand need to win to keep alive their hopes of playing in the inaugural World Test Championship final at Lord's in June. There are several scenarios that could see them tipped out of the final even if victory is secured but, as every professional sports team from here to eternity will repeat ad nauseam, you can only control the controllables.
India, Australia and England all have opportunities to kill off the Black Caps dreams, but that will be moot if New Zealand perform poorly here.
When these two teams met here in 2016, New Zealand triumphed comfortably. They go into this test with a similar line-up to four years ago; Pakistan's is near unrecognisable. That test was played early in the season and while this test is in the peak of summer, due to the curiosities of the 2020-21 schedule it marks an end point.
The fug of stale beer from New Year's celebrations is still drifting in on the wind, yet New Zealand contemplate their final test of the home summer.
New Zealand sit at 3-0, merciless thrashings of an insipid West Indies side tempered only slightly by a last-session thriller against Pakistan.
Even that description of last week's Mt Maunganui test is slightly misleading. The clock and a subdued strip of turf were as much the enemy as Pakistan.
A win over Pakistan in the second test will keep the Black Caps hopes of a spot in the final of the World Test Championship alive. Photo / Photosport
Take away the time and it was another dominating win: the only second-innings wickets to fall were lost as they chased declaration runs.
Hagley Oval is not expected to devolve so rapidly into an attritional affair. This is good news for a New Zealand team shorn of their most attritional bowler. Neil Wagner is typecast too readily as a one-trick bowler but it is true that on flat surfaces he is the go-to old-ball bowler, creating chances through the sheer accuracy and relentlessness of his short-of-a-length strategy.
On a pitch that bites and nibbles around he is still highly effective, but his loss should not be as keenly felt here as it would have been last week.
"Often it offers a bit here throughout [the five days]," said Kane Williamson on the eve of the match.
It is the absence of Colin de Grandhomme that might be more keenly felt. He ran through Pakistan on this ground on debut in 2016 and is a genuine fourth-seamer option. Daryl Mitchell has acclimated well to the rigours of test-match batting but there is limited evidence that he offers enough with the ball to trouble good players.
Black Caps coach Gary Stead raised the possibility that they could play both all-rounders, Mitchell and Mitchell Santner, to supplement the seam attack of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Kyle Jamieson, rather than bringing in Matt Henry, who was added to the squad to replace Wagner.
"Yes he can [play the fourth seamer role]," Williamson said of Mitchell. "That's why he's in the squad. Over recent times that has been the balance of the squad with de Grandhomme, who's been a huge player for us.
"Daryl can offer with the ball but perhaps he's more a batting all-rounder."
Mitchell would deepen the batting, with Jamieson coming in at No 9, but it might backfire if Pakistan dig in for another fight. Southee bowled 49 overs at the Mount, Boult 51 and Jamieson, who'd never played a fifth day of cricket before, 49.2.
Big workloads tend to have a cumulative effect on speed and sharpness. To that end, the relative freshness of Henry, who missed time through injury, might be attractive.
For Pakistan, their hopes of Babar Azam's return were dashed tonight, with the skipper ruled out of the test. The classy right-hander missed the first test with a fractured thumb but looked good in the nets on Friday. However, he felt a slight pain in his thumb, and team management opted against risking him at Hagley Oval.
"We have seen improvement in Babar Azam's injury but he is yet to fully recover. He is our captain and the most important batsman in the lineup, so we do not want to take any risk," said team doctor Sohail Saleem.
Mohammad Rizwan will continue to captain the side in his absence.
