Wade and Wagner go toe-to-toe in epic face-off under lights

Australia coach Justin Langer reckons Matthew Wade is "crazy", and he wouldn't want it any other way.

Wade's standing within the Test team lifted another notch last week when he bravely took a physical pounding at the hands of NZ paceman Neil Wagner during the first Domain Test in Perth.

In scenes reminiscent of Bodyline, Wade bravely stood his ground as a series of short Wagner deliveries cracked into his body.

Wade barely flinched after most of those hits, despite the obvious pain each blow would have inflicted.

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Langer loved every second of the duel.

"There's a lot of people who had different views on the Wagner v Wade. I thought it was absolutely brilliant," Langer said.

"Two street fighters going at it.

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"Matthew Wade ... got into that mode of 'I'm giving you nothing'. And Wagner's saying 'I'm giving you plenty'. I thought it was riveting.

"He (Wade) is crazy. I wouldn't be just letting him hit me on the body, but he's pretty tough Wadey.

"He liked the tag of world's toughest man, it came up a few times. It was good to watch."

During his playing career, Langer was also renowned for his ability to cop a blow and act as if nothing happened.

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He's been quick to remind Wade that taking hits from Wagner's 130km/h bouncers wasn't the same as Shoaib Akhtar's 150km/h thunderbolts.

Both NZ and Australia are expected to unleash more chin music in the Boxing Day Test, with Langer saying the onslaught in Perth didn't come as a surprise.

"We were certainly expecting it, particularly from Neil Wagner," Langer said.

"You've got to put it in perspective though. In the first innings they did the similar thing and we scored over 400 runs and we ended up winning the game by (296) runs.

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"We were expecting that and we'll have strategies in place to make sure we're ready for it in the next Test as well."

Australia are set to recall James Pattinson in place of Josh Hazlewood for the Boxing Day Test.

NZ will be boosted by the return of Trent Boult from a rib injury.

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Domain Test Series v New Zealand

Australia squad: David Warner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Travis Head, Tim Paine (c, wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Michael Neser, Peter Siddle

New Zealand: Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling (wk), Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson (c)

First Test: Australia won by 296 runs in Perth

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG (Seven, Fox & Kayo)

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (Seven, Fox & Kayo)