3 takeaways from Australia’s whitewash of New Zealand

In the end, what many people expected to be a great contest turned out to be a complete anti-climax. Instead of New Zealand and Australia playing a hard-fought series, the home side managed to whitewash their trans-Tasman neighbours.

By the end of the 3-match rubber, the visitors wore a look of a despondent team waiting for their agony to end. They entered the final Test having already lost the series and were forced to play this match without many of their key players.

New Zealand are a much better team than what they showed in this series. The failures of their key batsmen Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor played a major role in their inability to put up a fight. The bowling attack too was hampered by the absence of Trent Boult from the first and the last match of the series.

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So, as the dust settles on this rather one-sided contest, let us look back at the 3 most important takeaways from this whitewash.

Labuschagne is new Smith

Marnus Labuschagne's rise continues

Not long ago, Australian fans and experts were worried about the declining stock of Australian batting. The Baggy Green seemed heavily reliant on just two of their batsmen – Steve Smith and David Warner. However, this series cemented the reputation of another batting star – Marnus Labuschagne.

The young batsman made a mark during The Ashes and pounded Pakistan in the previous serious. In these two matches, he further proved his credentials as one of the most capable batsmen in the world – at least when playing in the Australian conditions.

Now, Australia clearly have another heavy scorer in their top order to share the burden of getting runs for their team. With Warner back in form and Steve Smith at number four, Labuschagne fits in nicely at no. 3. Not only is he getting big runs, his batting seems to be getting better and better.

With three heavy-scoring batsmen in the line-up, Australia can now look at becoming a top batting side once again.

Wagner the most lion-hearted performer

Neil Wagner is a tireless bowler for New Zealand

For those who hadn’t paid enough attention already, this series should be an eye-opener that Neil Wagner is the most hard-working and persevering competitor in not just the Kiwi team but also, probably, in the world.

His relentless barrage of short deliveries, even when the situation was hopeless and thorough commitment to his team speaks of a man who is willing to fight even in the most adverse and uninspring circumstances for his team.

Wagner’s efforts didn’t go unrewarded. He picked up a good deal of wickets and also reached the 200-wicket mark in the longest format of the game. It is now clear that when the pitch isn’t providing any help, Wagner is the man New Zealand can rely on to tirelessly run-in and make things happen. As we saw, he usually does!

While Tim Southee and Trent Boult would remain the two most important bowlers in the New Zealand team, the value of Wagner would be at the same level.

Finally, a weakness in Smith

Neil Wagner caused problems for Steve Smith through short-pitch bowling

Lastly, this series also witnessed a very rare phenomenon – Steve Smith failing to get a hundred. In fact, the Australian batsman went the entire home season of Test cricket without getting a century in the longest format of the game.

But what was much more important was the manner in which he got out in the first two Tests. Neil Wagner, attacked Smith with a barrage of short deliveries from around the stump aimed at his body and head. The field was also set for this kind of attack with a man at backward point and short fine-leg.

In four out of four innings of the first two Tests, Smith was dismissed to the same bowler – Wagner – trying to pull the ball. To be fair, on some of those occasions, he was attempting to increase the scoring rate and had to sacrifice his wicket.

But it was clear that this line of attack was bothering Smith and he wasn’t sure what to do with it. The prolific batsman had to decide between attacking balls on this line and just letting them go. On more than one occasion, when he tried to play the pull shot, he ended up losing his wicket.

Considering the success that Wagner had with this kind of bowling against Smith, it is certain that other teams would also try and emulate this plan. How Smith counters it would be very interesting to watch.