“And to see that he isn’t selected… I think you do need to plan for the future, but a one-off Test against Australia in a must-win situation, I wouldn’t be looking much further than Neil Wagner. And I’m sure the Australian batters are sleeping easy that he’s not in the side,” Taylor said.
“I couldn’t believe Neil Wagner wasn’t in the XI. I just genuinely thought that he must have been out through a niggle,” Finch said. “The success he’s had against Australia, particularly [against] Steven Smith over a period of time, you can guarantee that the last wicket partnership wouldn’t have happened if Wagner was there.
“Because he would have intimidated Josh Hazlewood at least. He might have stopped Cameron Green from scoring as well. I thought that was a really interesting decision,” Finch said.
Green and Hazlewood put on a record 116-run partnership – the highest 10th-wicket stand for Australia against New Zealand – to take Australia from 267 for 9 to an imposing total of 383.
“It’s not only his experience and the way he goes about it, but you know, the opposition, you heard [Pat] Cummins talking about the plans that they had for him,” Taylor said.
“Experience plays a lot, but no, I agree with Finchy. If he comes around the wicket to Hazlewood, he might have got him away for a couple of boundaries or even a six. But I think for the prolonged time he would have attacked him for, I don’t think they would have got a 100-run partnership.”
