BLACKCAPS On Back Foot After Day Two

The Black Caps have been rewarded late on day two for their toil, but are firmly on the back foot in the second cricket test against Australia in Christchurch.

The batting of Joe Burns and Steve Smith has dominated the day, with the tourists finishing 363 for four, a deficit of seven.

Both departed late in the day, with Burns going for 170 and Smith for 138 both caught by Martin Guptill off the bowling of Neil Wagner.

Wagner said it was a day of challenges on a flat pitch.

"It made it quite tough work for the bowlers. There wasn't a hell of a lot of swing or movement of the deck, so we had to be patient...We tried a lot of things, it just didn't really work for us.

"Burnsy and Steve Smith batted really well and made it really hard for us to fight for those wickets."

Burns and Smith put on 289 for the third wicket.

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