116 for the 10th wicket, which is what Green-Hazlewood thought
Australia's ninth wicket fell for 267 runs yesterday . The 10th wicket partnership of Cameron Green and Josh Hazlewood lasted just 1 over. New Zealand must have hoped to get into the batting quickly by wrapping up their neighbors this morning in Wellington. That hope was not fulfilled. 116 runs in the last wicket pair of Green-Hazlewood, which lasted 31.1 overs! Supposedly Green alone added 83 runs. Green, who was unbeaten on 103 runs yesterday, finally remained unbeaten on 174 runs, Hazlewood was out for 22 runs off 62 balls.
It cannot be said that such incidents of century pairs in the tenth wicket are regular in cricket. Let us look at the number of final resistances in this feat of Green-Hazlewood—
There are 28 100-run last-wicket pairings in Test history. It was seen after more than a year. The last feat was by New Zealanders, Matt Henry and Ejaz Patel scored 104 against Pakistan in Karachi in January last year.
Australia reached New Zealand in the list of the highest century pair for the 10th wicket. Both teams now have six such pairings. England have 5 hundred runs in the last wicket, India 4, Pakistan 3. South Africa and West Indies have 2.
Green and Hazlewood's 116-run partnership is Australia's fourth highest for the last wicket. Top 163 by Philip Hughes and Ashton Agger, in the 2013 Ashes at Trent Bridge Test.4
Green and Hazlewood's 116-run partnership is Australia's fourth highest for the last wicket. Top 163 by Philip Hughes and Ashton Agger, in the 2013 Ashes at Trent Bridge Test.
They are two
In the list of 28 century pairs that have taken place on the last wicket, no pair has been repeated. But there are two, who have been part of more than one pair—Australia's Glenn McGrath and New Zealand's Nathan Astall.
In 2004, McGrath shared a 114-run stand with Jason Gillespie in Brisbane against New Zealand, before partnering Mike Hussey in a last-wicket stand of 107 against South Africa in Melbourne the following year.
Astol's pair came 5 years apart. After a 106-run stand with Danny Morrison against England in Auckland in 1997, he was part of a last-wicket stand of 118 in Christchurch in 2002. Astol's batting partner in the latter pair is surprisingly named – Chris Cairns. One of the best all-rounders in New Zealand history, he batted only once at number 11. It was also the only century pair for the tenth wicket in the fourth innings.
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3 unbroken hundred runs in the last wicket. England's Peter Willey and Bob Willis (117*) against West Indies at The Oval in 1980, Astle-Morrison (106*) against England in 1997 and AB de Villiers and Vernon Philander (107*) of South Africa against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in 2010.
Test cricket has never seen a pair of 200 runs in the tenth wicket. Of course, it is only for a few. In 2014, England's pair of Joe Root and James Anderson stopped for 198 runs against India at Trent Bridge.
