Josh Hazlewood has joined a rare club of No.11 batters to have passed a significant last-wicket partnership figure on multiple occasions
Given Australia only boats eight last-wicket partnerships of 90 runs or more across 147 years of Test cricket, it's perhaps surprising the only names to feature on that skinny list more than once are Glenn McGrath and Josh Hazlewood.
The surprise doesn't rest in the fact they were involved at the end of an innings.
With respective Test batting averages of 7.36 for McGrath (in 124 Tests) and 11.3 for Hazlewood (in 68 outings before today) making them more than qualified for the number 11 batting role.
But as the rarity of the statistical attests, it takes some acumen with the blade to survive long enough for a century stand to be reached regardless of how much heavy lifting is done by the batter at the other end.
There are outliers on that honour roll, such as the high watermark of Phillip Hughes and Ashton Agar's 163 against England at Trent Bridge in 2013 that pre-dated the accepted wisdom Agar could play as a genuine all-rounder.
And most of them feature a recognised batter collaborating with a batting bunny, the glaring exception being McGrath's 114-run stand with fellow fast bowler Jason Gillespie that until today stood as the best for a final duo in a Test against New Zealand.
That has now been overtaken by Hazlewood and Cameron Green's 116-run effort that lifted Australia past 350 and into a position of dominance on day two of the opening Test against the Black Caps at Wellington.
However, despite it being his second prosperous last-gasp effort – he paired with Adam Voges to add 97 with Adam Voges against the West Indies in 2015 – Hazlewood claims the secret to his underrated batting prowess is not to get tricked into believing he can bat.
"I think sometimes you can work too much on it and try and be a batsman, and look like a batsman," Hazlewood said this evening after scoring 27 at Basin Reserve, his highest Test total in more than seven years.
"I just don't think that's when the tail's at its most potent.
"Everyone's got to have their scoring options and obviously keep the good ball out when it's at the stumps and have an option for the short ball, but it's as simple as that I think.
"We've seen some of Starcy's (fellow fast bowler Mitchell Starc's) knocks get us out of trouble and have a partnership with a batter.
"So it's just having a couple of options to score, a good defence, and trying not to look too pretty I think."
While there was little in Hazlewood's bald batting statistics to foreshadow today's heroics – his previous 27 hits at Test level stretching back to the 2019 Ashes campaign had yielded just 87 runs – there was a clue hidden within that data.
In 16 of those knocks, almost two-thirds of his most recent trips to the crease, the left-hander had remained not out suggesting his aggregate would have been considerably higher if only someone had shown Green's faith and capacity to hang around.
As Hazlewood sees it, another key to putting together meaningful stands at the end of an innings is to think like a bowler.
Having been on the end of a few frustrating counter-punches from lower-order rivals, he knows the best chance of breaking those stands is to bowl as many deliveries as possible at the least-credentialled batter.
Consequently, Hazlewood diligently helped Green face more than half the 188 balls bowled at the duo in their union as he contributed less than a quarter of the total runs they added, to the Black Caps' escalating frustration.
"We were just thinking basically about the game," Hazlewood said of the mid-pitch chats during their partnership of almost two and half hours that saw Green finish with highest Test score to date of 174no.
"Where we were at and working out the four or five balls an over that Greeny was taking, and then he could target down breeze and a certain bowler.
"It's all those little things you talk through, and then all of a sudden we're 50 partnership, then 100 and geez, we're up near 400 so things just tick along when you're batting.
"Greeny's nice to have a hit with."
Hazlewood claimed he carries some memories of McGrath and Gillespie's famous outing at the Gabba in 2004 that resulted in the former posting the sole half-century of his Test career, and the latter celebrating his milestone by riding his bat like a make-believe horse.
Gillespie would go on to post an unbeaten double-hundred as night watch during a 2006 Test in Bangladesh so can justifiably refute suggestions he was a batting bunny, but Hazlewood makes no such claims and accepts his primary purpose is to take wickets, which he did today.
He noted the Basin pitch, on which 22 batters have perished for the addition of less than 600 runs across two days, offers significant bounce to bowlers who land the ball on a good length but seemingly little help when pitched a bit fuller.
Then there's the prevailing conditions that are tipped to play more of a part in the final three days, with the wind picking up and showers forecast for Sunday.
Hazlewood was the only one of Australia's vaunted fast bowling triumvirate to have previously played a Test match at Basin Reserve, with both Starc and Pat Cummins absent from the team's previous visit in 2016 through injury.
As such, he was able to proffer some insights on the ground's most famous feature, the wind that can whip bitingly from the south or occasionally, as was the case for much of today, blow in warmer weather from the north.
Having batted almost two and half hours before taking the new ball this afternoon, Hazlewood's understanding of the pitch as well as meteorological was as invaluable as it was unexpected.
"I was lucky enough to get choice of ends that (previous) Test in 2016, I don't think it will be the case this time around so I might be pushing up into it a few overs here and there," Hazlewood told cricket.com.au prior to the game starting.
"It's a typical New Zealand ground, not many stands, hills all around, the public's quite close to you so they give you plenty of advice down at fine leg which is always welcome.
"It's a typical New Zealand wicket as well, it probably looks very green but probably doesn't play that way except for the first morning or first day then they tend to flatten out after that.
"The wind is tough whichever way it's coming, and when it's gusty it's probably the toughest.
"Getting that consistent rhythm throughout the day when the wind's very gusty and coming from different directions, it makes it quite tough.
"And as easy as it sounds, bowling down breeze can be quite tough as well.
"So it's probably the one thing that annoys me most as a fast bowler."
Josh Hazlewood has joined a rare club of No.11 batters to have passed a significant last-wicket…
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Bowling very well.
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