Australia name unchanged line-up for second Test

Australia crushed New Zealand by 208 runs in the first Test at the Gabba on Monday and now head to the WACA ground one up in the three-match series as the Kiwis manage several injuries.

“If we can bowl on the good areas, use our bouncer to him especially on this wicket, which hopefully is going to be a bouncy one, then it will help get him out”.

New Zealand started the morning on 142 for three and after a positive start lost their first wicket of the morning on 165 when Ross Taylor went to hook Hazlewood but was too early into the shot and gloved the ball through to Steve Smith at second slip.

Late on day two of the opening test, that fire had become an inferno as Johnson and fellow left-armer Mitchell Starc unleashed a lethal 20-minute spell that tore through New Zealand’s top order and took the match away from the tourists.

“(Siddle) was talked about”, Smith added. “He’s bowling really well at the moment but we’ve won the last Test with this line-up”, he said. “We’ll speak to him throughout the practice and have a yarn to him later on”, McCullum told ABC radio at the WACA.

“Tim’s a robust chief on this group and he is an absolute champion inside the set-up and we’ll give him so long as he wants however finally he’ll be very, very trustworthy together with his evaluation”.

“I thought Tim started to come right pretty quickly which is a good sign”, Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum said.

“That probably helps us a little bit”, he said on Thursday. In both innings he did the job of taking the shine off the new ball but was unable to go on and reach a half-century.

After their resounding first-Test defeat, McCullum has backed his players to respond at the WACA, where high temperatures are expected.

McCullum isn’t about to change his no-sledging approach heading into the second Test at the WACA, starting on Friday, but he couldn’t help but have a chuckle when asked about the “nice guy” tag.

“I think it’s going to be quite warm so that’s definitely a possibility”, he said.

“We weren’t at our best in Brisbane, hands down, we were outplayed by a team which was far better than we were in the game”.

Australia contemplating playing four fast bowlers in the Perth Test has become a tradition – and this year is no exception.

Smith noted Nathan Lyon would have a big role to play and expects short spells for Johnson, Starc and Hazlewood due to the forecast heat. “We were completely outplayed but I don’t think it’s an indication of the gap between the sides”.