Jackson Bird stars as Australia close on series victory over New Zealand
Wednesday 24 February 2016 07:29, UK
Jackson Bird starred with the ball as Australia closed on a 2-0 Test series victory over New Zealand on day four at Christchurch.
Bird took five wickets to help dismiss the hosts for 335 in their second innings and leave Australia needing 201 for a win that would see top the ICC Test rankings.
And they closed the day 70-1 - David Warner the only wicket to fall when he was caught down the leg side on review by BJ Watling from Neil Wagner for 22.
Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja are the two batsmen at the crease, with Burns 27no and Khawaja 19no, and the tourists needing another 131 for the win.
New Zealand, who lost the opening Test in Wellington last week by an innings and 52 runs, began the day 121-4 and enjoyed a profitable morning as Kane Williamson and Corey Anderson added 86 to their total in a heated session which saw Australia drop two catches, have two reviews turned down and an lbw decision overturned.
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The second review, just before lunch and against Williamson, prompted a petulant outburst from captain Steve Smith and bowler Josh Hazlewood, with the paceman later pleading guilty to a charge of dissent for his expletive-filled rant. The 25-year-old is likely to be fined by the ICC.
The 102-run stand was ended shortly after when Anderson was bowled by Bird for 40 and the paceman had his second three runs later when he repeated the feat on Williamson, who fell three short of his century.
That left New Zealand 210-6, which became 210-7 when Tim Southee was caught by Smith to give Bird his third victim, only for a quickfire 118-run eighth-wicket stand between BJ Watling and Matt Henry to frustrate Australia.
Watling was eventually caught for 46 off James Pattinson with Henry following soon after - his 93-ball 66 brought to an end by the returning Bird.
The 29-year-old pace bowler then completed his five-wicket haul when Pattinson caught last man Trent Boult without scoring - Bird finishing with 5-59.
"It was nice to take some wickets when the team needed it after lunch but I feel like I've been pretty inconsistent with the way I've bowled in the series which is disappointing," said Bird.
"But it was nice... to put us in a pretty good position to win the game tomorrow and win the series."
Anderson said New Zealand still had hope of securing an unlikely win, adding: "Any total you're going to have to chase in the fourth innings is always going to be a tough total regardless of what it is.
"It would have been nice to get a couple more poles (wickets) this evening. Hopefully tomorrow we can go bang bang and then potentially run through them."
Watch the fifth and final day of the second Test live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 9.30pm on Tuesday.
