Australia reclaim top spot in test rankings with victory over new zealand

Burns, who was adjudged the man of the match, was patient during his 169-ball 65, his fourth Test half-century, but was bowled by Trent Boult in the extended session before lunch.

Australia completed a seven-wicket win over New Zealand in Christchurch to seal a 2-0 series victory and regain top spot in the world Test rankings.

“If you look at Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, they always take on a slight twist”.

Voges and Smith then opted to see out victory after the break.

“Any captain wants to change the way your team plays for the better and Brendon has certainly done that”.

The victory confirmed Australia’s superiority over New Zealand after they won the first Test in Wellington by an innings and 52 runs.

New Zealand’s Neil Wagner jumps up after a catch is dropped off his bowling against Australia on the fifth day of the second International Cricket Test match at Hagley Park Oval, Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday Feb. 24, 2016.

“The latter part of my career is when I realised that, when you’re nearly at a stage that you weren’t enjoying the game, when you come to that realisation, you try to get back the innocence of why you started playing the game in the first place”.

McCullum farewelled Test cricket on Wednesday following New Zealand’s seven-wicket defeat to Trans-Tasman rivals Australia at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. We’ve achieved some cool things, we’ve lost one or two games as well but, hey, we’ve got our soul back. “We play a good, hard, aggressive brand of cricket”, Smith said, admitting he and Hazlewood were wrong in how they approached the umpires after Australia were denied an lbw decision against Kane Williamson.

But he received support from McCullum, last year’s victor of the ICC’s Spirit of Cricket Award for fair play, who has noted a significant improvement in Australia’s on-field behaviour under Smith’s watch.

He also holds the record for the most consecutive Tests, never missing a game since his career began in 2004, and he is New Zealand’s second most successful captain with a winning percentage of 35.48, behind Geoff Howarth’s 36.66.

New Zealand finished the five Tests against Australia this summer with four losses and one draw, but Hesson said he felt that the battle had been somewhat closer than that scoreline suggested.

Boult took only five wickets in the series and Southee took three, while for Australia Josh Hazlewood had 10 at 30 and Jackson Bird eight at 28.

In that second innings, Matt Henry was preferred ahead of Southee to take the second new ball.

Joe Burns (27 not out) and Usman Khawaja (19no) were the two batsmen at the wicket when play resumed on the final morning.