Tom Blundell hits a Test century which was not enough to save the day for his team. It was New Zealand’s first Test century at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. New Zealand suffered a heavy defeat at the hand of Australia at the Boxing Day Test.
For the first time in two years, Blundell was summoned for opening a first-class match. Blundell did not let go of the opportunity and hit an amazing 112 runs against Australia’s pace attack.
Blundell was caught by Nathan Lyon on the fourth day and New Zealand was dismissed at 240 runs, making them lose by 247 runs. Trent Boult did not bat due to his injured hand.
In the next match, New Zealand lost Australia in their homeland at Perth. It was 296 runs and blackcaps could not cope for long period.
They will be heading to Sydney with 2-0 down and play their third test match on 3rd January 2020. Blundell’s score was a ray of hope for New Zealanders on a gloomy day of the match.
The decibel levels were high all day as Blundell raised his ton off 185 balls. Blundell was on for 132 minutes and took on 210 balls from the golden trio of Australia- Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson.
Tim Paine, Australia’s captain, was declared on day four and let the black caps chase 488 runs which were 20 more than what was set in Perth. Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, and Ross Taylor departed after Cummins’ bowling at 8 runs, no runs and 2 runs, respectively.
New Zealand was close to its worst defeat against South Africa in 2007 by 358. Blundell savored the first time he got to open for a first-class match in his 56th first-class match. He was a classic opener. He dodged the short ones or took them on.