Civil war disrupts revelry

This should be a week of celebration for New Zealand cricket.The build-up to the second Test was supposed to be about parading Tim Southee and Kane Williamson, who will become the fifth and sixth players respectively to reach the 100Test milestone for the Black Caps.

It is the captain and the former captain, the second-most prolific bowler in New Zealand Test history alongside the most celebrated and objectively successful batter.

The Zen, fearless overachievers of world cricket. Impossible not to like. All smiles. Plenty of hugs.

However, the days leading up to Friday at Hagley Oval have given the impression of a paradise lost.

New Zealand continues to seem entranced by Australia. The Trans-Tasman Trophy has already been ceded, again.

Southee and Williamson were among their side’s worst performers in Wellington, too.

New Zealand is embroiled in a low-key civil war to boot.

It started with Neil Wagner’s retirement on the eve of the first Test after he was told he would not make the XI.

Ross Taylor, New Zealand’s joint most-capped Test player alongside Daniel Vettori, fuelled the fire when he said on ESPN this week that Wagner had been subjected to a “forced retirement”.

Williamson and Southee have since rejected Taylor’s assertion about Wagner and, speaking more generally, Southee gave the indication his relationship with Taylor was about as warm as Christchurch at dawn. “I haven’t had a lot to do with Ross since he’s retired but he’s a great of our game,” Southee said. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.

“He knows what it’s like to be inside those four walls. He was in there for 112 Test matches. So I guess it’s a little bit disappointing. But there’s this full belief within those four walls that we can get the job done over the next five days.”