Marnus Labuschagne wrote his way into the record books as he capped off his glorious summer with a double century to put Australia in charge of the third Test against New Zealand.
Labuschagne hit a career-high 215 as Australia were bowled out for 454 at the SCG on Saturday’s second day in extreme heat, before New Zealand fought back to be 0-63 at stumps.
The Black Caps had arguably their best day of the summer as they took 7-171 with the ball and openers Tom Latham and Tom Blundell whittled the deficit down to 391 runs.
But the day still belonged to Labuschagne.
His fourth triple-figure score of the summer and first career double ton took his tally for the Test season to 837 runs, the most by any Australian for a five-Test home program.
He eclipsed Neil Harvey’s prolific summer in 1952-53 against South Africa.
The right-hander grew weary towards the end of his 519-minute stay at the crease, but still offered no real chance before he was caught and bowled by spinner Todd Astle (2-111).
Dominant off his pads on the opening day when he went to stumps unbeaten on 130, he was strong on the drive down the ground and through the covers on day two.
He took 20 minutes to advance from 199 to 200, when he edged Colin de Grandhomme through the vacant slips cordon for four.
The innings also helped his career average to 63.63, above Steve Smith’s 62.84 and into second on the record list behind Sir Don Bradman.
It came as New Zealand’s tour from hell went from bad to worse on the injury front, with the visitors already down 2-0 in the three-match series.
Scans confirmed paceman Matt Henry had suffered a broken thumb on day one and, while he continued to bowl on Saturday, there was no guarantee he would bat.
Jeet Raval joined Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls and Mitchell Santner in the sick bay, sitting out the first hour of play.
That even prompted batting coach Peter Fulton to wear the whites, running the drinks and ready to act as a substitute fielder if required.
But on the field, they toiled hard under Sydney’s hazy skies, with de Grandhomme finishing with 3-78 and adding captain Tim Paine (35) to his first-day scalps of Joe Burns and Steve Smith.
Matthew Wade (22) and Travis Head (10) threw away opportunities to make big runs when they went in the opening session.
Neil Wagner took 3-66, before Blundell (34no) and Latham (26no) did well to survive to stumps on a pitch that showed signs of uneven bounce.
