"It’s something I’d looked forward to" - Neil Wagner on resuming his battle with Steve Smith

Veteran New Zealand seamer Neil Wagner has revealed that he was looking forward to resuming his battle against Steve Smith in the upcoming two-Test series against Australia. With the Kiwis looking for their first Test win over Australia at home since 1993, the 37-year-old believes they have enough quality to upstage the tourists.

Wagner tied Smith in knots during New Zealand's three-Test series Down Under in 2019-20. The southpaw has excellent numbers against the former Aussie captain, dismissing him on five out of seven occasions and averaging 16. However, With the South African-born cricketer retiring from international cricket, fans won't get to witness the two greats going head-to-head.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the left-arm seamer admitted that Smith has been a world-class batter for a long time but trusts the Kiwis to come up with good bowling plans to combat him.

"It’s something I’d looked forward to, but I’ve got full faith in the group that they’ve got what needs to be there to be the Test attack," Wagner said. "I’ve had a fun against him, but it doesn’t guarantee I’m going to take his wicket again. He’s a class player, and I feel like the team we’ve got will find our way around it. That’s why we’re here, we lean on each other as a bowling group and we come up with plans and we’ll find a way of doing that."

The Black Caps haven't beaten their Trans-Tasman rivals in a Test anywhere since 2011.

"I thought it was the right time to step down and let the other guys step in" - Neil Wagner

Neil Wagner. (Image Credits: Getty)

With head coach Gary Stead revealing his omission from the series, Wagner felt it was the right time to step down and let the youngsters step in.

"I knew the time was going to come," he said. "The last week, reflecting, looking into the future and the Test matches to come, I thought it was the right time to step down and let the other guys step in. The discussions between myself and Gary after the last Test was that I wasn’t going to be playing in this series, and looking forward and speaking to Gary and a few people, we found this was going to be the right time."

Australia swept the Kiwis aside in the preceding T20I series, winning it 3-0.