New Zealand VS Australia

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Teams:

NEW ZEALAND: Craig Cumming, James Marshall, Hamish Marshall, Stephen Fleming©, Nathan Astle, Lou Vincent, Brendon McCullum(wk), James Franklin, Daniel Vettori, Paul Wiseman, Chris Martin.

AUSTRALIA: Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting©, Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist(wk), Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Glenn McGrath.

New Zealand won toss and chose to bat.

Close, Day 1.

NEW ZEALAND 199-5
Hamish Marshall 76
Fleming 65
James Marshall 29
Gillespie 2-50
McGrath 1-20

Heading for a whitewash in an embarrassingly one-sided series.

Good to see the Marshall twins on form for the Kiwis though........

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/PICTURES/DB/032005/059135.jpg

 

24overs - 17maidens - 20runs and 1wicket
McGrath is a monster.

 

The coach needs to go.

 

If New Zealand could have kept Shane Bond fit and if they could get the best out of Ian Butler they'd have a pace duo there which could unsettle sides.

Add them to Vettori and a batting order containing Fleming, Hamish Marshall, Styris, Oram, McCullum and an on form Nathan Astle - they have some talent in that side but their problem has always been fast-bowling, they have relied on dibby dobby medium pacers for too long and they have absolutely no cutting edge.

McGrath with great figures. 17 maidens out of 24 overs? He's a machine.

 

Bah, how embarrassing. Another terrible 4th day performance sees us lose within 4 days again.

Also, once again, Adam Gilchrist. Australia were 295-8 at one point (only 3 runs ahead) before Gilchrist calmly blasts 60 not out. What a freak. In all 3 tests he has come in when Australia have been faltering (relatively speaking) and every time he has put the game out of NZ's reach (with 100s in the first two games - he would have got one here too if he hadn't run out of partners). That man is a freak.

Barmy - good point about the injuries but that just highlights the big lack of depth in NZ cricket outside of the top 11.

So, difficult to tell if we are rubbish or if Australia are awesome (a bit of both probably). The Sri Lankan test starts on Monday - just hope NZ aren't too demoralised as Sri Lanka should be a better match for us.

Player of the series for NZ: Easily Daniel Vettori who has dominated the both ball and bat.

Player of the series for Aus: Bah, all of them were superhuman, but I'd have to go for Adam Gilchrist.

Roll on the Ashes.

 

I really am not sure about Fleming anymore. For someone who's supposedly our best batsman, he doesn't score heavily enough. It is good to see McMillan out of the side. Anyway, my radical Black Caps test squad would be:

J Marshall
I like this guy's defensive technique. Needs time to settle.

H Marshall
Why not, he's often batting within the first 5 overs anyway. I'd really like to see the Marshall twins open the batting.

Styris
Stick him up the order. We don't need Flem. Underrated bowler as well.

Vincent
Vincent appears to be getting better. I've also rarely seen a NZer pull the ball on the front foot with such style.

Astle
He played well all series, is an excellent fielder and can bowl!

Taylor
Ross Taylor, wild card. Scores quickly, in emphatic fashion. Big hitting is an understatement with this guy around.

Oram
Oram is potentially our next Chris Cairns. A definite selection. Third seamer.

McCullum
Needs to start socring runs. Excellent keeper, will get better.

Vettori
Dan is the man. He is also the captain of Tassadar's XI.

Franklin
Needs to be 5 kph or so faster, more accurate and swing it both ways. Still young, should get there.

Bond
No brainer. Anyone who consistently gets best bowling figures against Australia picks himself.

 

Interesting stuff Tassadar. But I have to disagree about Fleming. He was easily our best batsman in 2003 and 2004. I think everyone is making too big deal about his failure in one series against the best team in the world he made a specific point of analysing him intensely and targetting him as the most important batsman in the team to get out. They succeeded admirably. Fleming is still the man.

Ross Taylor is still only in the 'promising' basket. He didn't really follow up on his great first season with enough consistent performances to be a serious consideration at this stage.

I say you have to stick with more or less the same side for Sri Lanka, barring the return of some of the other players from injury. Anyone who fails against the super Australians deserves a second chance. Except McMillan who has been given too many already.

 

Decent figures for James Franklin though.

He looks a good cricketer to me, if he had a touch more pace and control he could be a very handy performer for NZ. With Bond, Tuffey, Oram and Butler all hampered by injury problems they really need a bowler to step up to the plate to ease the burden on Daniel Vettori.