New Zealand set a target of 279 for Australia after putting up a strong performance with the bat in their second innings. Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja came out to open, but the opening partnership didn’t last long.

Smith, who has struggled in this series as an opener, continued his poor run of form. Henry took seven wickets in an inspired spell of bowling in the first innings and took off from where he left.

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In the eighth over of the innings, an inswinger from Henry bowled at a length caught Smith in no-man’s land as he had shuffled across the off stump. He tried to bring his bat around to block the ball, but was beaten and got struck on his pads. The on-field umpire didn’t need time to rule him out. Smith reviewed the decision, but in vain and was sent back to the pavilion.

Having started opening since the West Indies series earlier this year, barring an exceptional 91 not out, Smith has struggled to find his feet at the top of the order.

In the first innings of this match, Smith was out lbw leaving a ball by Sears for 11. Today’s dismissal, for nine runs, was his fifth under 15 from eight innings as an opener. In fact, he has gone past 20 only twice and past 50 only once, leading to calls from Australian as well as neutral fans for him to shift back down the order.

Australia lost three more wickets before stumps and finished on 77-4 with Henry and debutant Ben Sears sharing two wickets each.

Watch Steve Smith caught plumb in front by Matt Henry in the second innings of the 2nd NZ-AUS Test:

Matt Henry 🔥 His 8th wicket of the match. Follow play LIVE in NZ with @TVNZ+ and DUKE. #NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/l1B1wd1CK1

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 10, 2024