New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 1st Test: Christchurch Pitch Report, Team Records at Hagley Oval, Christchurch

New Zealand is all set to host Sri Lanka for the two-match Test series. The first game will be played at Christchurch and for Sri Lanka it’ll be an extremely important series as their chances to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship will depend very much on this series.

Sri Lanka needs to win both the Tests to qualify for the final of the Test Championship. Draw or defeat even in one game will rule them out of the race and therefore they need to put in all the efforts as it’ll not be easy for them to whitewash New Zealand at home.

On the other hand, New Zealand are out of the race of the World Test Championship. But they came under scrutiny for losing the Test against England at home. Therefore they would want to put on the show and not only win the series but hamper Sri Lanka’s chances for qualifying for the WTC Final.

As New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 1st Test contest is at the edge, here’s the pitch report and more from Christchurch.

Christchurch Pitch Report

The pitch in Christchurch is probably the best for the Test among all the other venues of the country. The traditionally is know for his pace and it remains same throughout the game and therefore it is expected that it’ll be a four-day or five-day finish. The spicy nature of the pitch has kept both batters as well as bowlers in the game. The venue has hosted 12 games so far and average first innings score at this venue is 286. Out of the 12 games, 4 matches has been won by teams batting first whereas 7 have went in favour of teams bowling first.

Team records at the Hagley Oval Stadium

Since 2020, the Hagley Oval Stadium has hosted just five Tests. Ahead of New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 1st Test, New Zealand’s record during this time at the venue is described in a table below.

No.	Match	Result	Year
1	New Zealand vs India	New Zealand won by 7 wickets	2020
3	New Zealand vs Pakistan	New Zealand won by innings and 176 runs	2021
4	New Zealand vs Bangladesh	New Zealand won by innings and 117 runs	2022
5	New Zealand vs South Africa	New Zealand by innings and 276 runs	2022
5	New Zealand vs South Africa	South Africa won by 198 runs	2022