Australia and New Zealand announce teams for the first Test

Apr 17, 2016 at 12:03 PM

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Australia and New Zealand announce teams for the first Test

Jackson Bird, the Tasmanian pacer who last featured for Australia nearly 3 years ago is set to be a part of Australia’s XI for the first test at the Basin Reserve. The Kangaroos announced their playing XI for the first test and named Bird ahead of in-form pacer James Pattinson. Pattinson, who recently took a five-wicket haul against the visiting West Indies team, was unfortunate to miss out, as Bird was chosen ahead of him.

Skipper Steve Smith, though, said that the selectors weren’t completely satisfied with Pattinson’s fitness and that was the reason behind selecting Bird. “The selectors aren’t 100 percent sure whether Pattinson would get through this first Test match,” Smith said. “So that decision was made.”I think Jackson Bird has been bowling extremely well. I saw him for the first time in the nets yesterday and I thought he bowled extremely well “I’m really happy with the XI we’ve picked and hopefully we can have a successful week.”

“He’s always performed really well at Shield level and I think it’s great that he gets another opportunity,” Smith said. “He’s bowling with quite a good pace, he’s hitting a good area and he’s swinging the ball and swinging it late, which is a great attribute to have. “If he can get the ball in the right areas in this Test match I think he can do a bit of damage. “He runs in all day, he’s quite tall so he hits the bat a little bit higher than you think and he generally hits good areas, “I think that’s really important in this Test series, particularly if the wickets are going to do a little bit. If we keep hitting those good areas, we’re going to create a lot of chances and I think he can do that for us,” said Smith about Bird.

Australia XI: David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Adam Voges, Mitch Marsh, Peter Nevill, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird

New Zealand XI: Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls, Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson, BJ Watling, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Mark Craig, Doug Bracewell

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