Australia added many insults to the injury on the visiting New Zealand team on Day 4 with David Warner smashing his 24th hundred in Test cricket and Marnus Labuschagne notching up another half-century. The hosts declared their second innings at 217 for two on Monday, leaving New Zealand to chase down an impossible-looking target of 416 runs in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Things, though, could have been a little different if Todd Astle had managed to grab a sitter but the New Zealand all-rounder put down the chance, giving Labuschagne a reprieve when he had only scored 4 runs.
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Shane Warne and his fellow commentator just couldn’t believe what they had seen. “Oh dropped him, can u believe it?,” said the former Australia leg-spinner. “Well, as far as caught and bowls come, we saw Nathan Lyon drop a couple yesterday. This is as easy as they come,” he added.
Here is the video of Todd Astle’s massive blunder:
You cannot drop Marnus Labuschagne! 🙈#AUSvNZ | https://t.co/rx14Qs3S0i pic.twitter.com/WVsWKoghbe
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 6, 2020
However, the New Zealand team has been bundled out for 136 runs ended up losing the game by a huge margin of 279 runs. The Australian bowlers Pat Cummins (1), Mitchell Starc (3) and Nathan Lyon (5) among the wickets in the second innings on Monday.
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Earlier, Warner completed his 24th Test century with a clip off his pads for three runs through mid-wicket and remained unbeaten when skipper Tim Paine declared upon the dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne. There was drama late in the innings with the Australians chasing quick runs ahead of the declaration when Warner was given an official warning by umpire Aleem Dar for running down the middle of the pitch in scampering a single.
It resulted in five penalty runs being added to New Zealand’s first innings total meaning their target was revised down from 421 to 416.
