Story International Cricket League [C2005/BLIC2005]

[surendar]

Thats a good rescual and crucial innings from McCullum!!! This pair is looking gud!!!

 

[sohum]

Bracken, Warne clean up tail
All the good work that was done by Brendan McCullum and Jacob Oram quickly unravelled as McCullum was dismissed just a few balls after reaching his important half-century. It was a beautifully bowled leg-spin by Warne that pitched on off-stump and spun away, taking the edge of McCullum's bat with it. The catch was taken easily by Langer, and spurred a lower-order collapse.

Bracken came back to dismiss Oram and he also cleaned up Bond to end New Zealand's first innings. Shane Warne, who did not get a chance to attack the top order, bowled well to pick up 3 wickets in his 12 overs, though all of them were lower order scalps. Tea is just around the corner, and the Australian openers would want to play without any risks and go into the second break of the day with all wickets still intact.

So there you have it, New Zealand end their first innings on a disappointing 130. We will be chatting with Brendan McCullum and Stephen Fleming at the end of the day to pick their heads and how they assess New Zealand's position to be. Let's just have a look at the damage before we get back to the action.

 

[surendar]

Its a great bowling pitch!!! Bond and Franklin can do some magic supported by Vettori!!!!

 

[hondeyho]

Brilliant presentation there, looks very smart and neat - and I'm loving the freshline

 

[Left_Hander]

Great bowling by the Aussies. They should win this match.

 

[sohum]

Preview To Tea

Freshlime Coming Up

 

[evertonfan]

Aussies 22/3!! That's more like it! Come on the Kiwis!

 

[Left_Hander]

The umpire on the left looks hilarious. Australia need to keep calm otherwise the match could get away from them.

 

[sami007]

excellent presentation! cmon kiwis....down the oz

 

[sohum]

The umpire on the left looks hilarious. Australia need to keep calm otherwise the match could get away from them.

Yeah, he's supposed to be Simon Taufel but looks like he's advertising tooth paste.

 

[sohum]

Freshlime: Tea

Freshlime - Lemon Tea
Welcome to Freshlime @ Tea. We have some wonderful lemon tea out for our guests today, and incidentally, some fresh lime soda, too. Take your pick, but there's not much to choose between these two sides. We only have a short session here as Tea's only 20 minutes long, but we will still get enough time to pick the brains of our experts, Dean Jones and Mark Richardson. Another session that saw plenty of wickets fall. What do the both of you think?

DEANO Well, another interesting session. This pitch is really proving to be pretty unplayable with 13 wickets falling in 2 sessions. How many more will go? Although to be absolutely fair, Australia did get out to some poor shots.
MARK Yes, first it was New Zealand's turn to crumble and then it was the Australians trying to mimick them. Probably just another case of the Aussies trying to better their opposition!
THE LEMON Indeed. I was particularly surprised with the lack of resistance shown by New Zealand's tail. Players like Vettori and Franklin usually chip in for a few runs, or at least occupy the crease a bit.
DEANO With Warne bowling, you cannot expect the tail to make too many. And Warney was clinical too, just bowling the ball in the perfect areas and inducing the false shots.
THE LEMON How about McCullum's dismissal?
MARK McCullum probably let down his guard a bit once he got to his half-century and he also would have been looking to push for runs. Unfortunately for him, even Warne could find assistance from this pitch, and he was snappled up at first slip.
THE LEMON Right. So the Australians in a bit of trouble? Their top 3 are gone--all dismissed in 4 overs.
DEANO More than a bit of trouble. On this sort of pitch, you want your top-class players like Ponting, Hayden and Langer to spend a lot more time at the crease. That was not possible today due to some accurate bowling from Tuffey and some firey bowling from Bond.
MARK Yes, in fact Tuffey picked up a wicket with his very first delivery, trapping Hayden plumb in front.
DEANO It also seemed to me that the Australians are unable to measure the bounce on the pitch. The ball often bounced off a length and even kept low. All in all, the Aussies didn't look like they wanted to be out there.
THE LEMON Yes. In fact, they tried to bat their way out of that situation with aggression. Not the best ploy on this pitch?
DEANO Definitely not. Both Ponting and Langer came out there and wanted to go after the bowling. Bond took a pasting going for almost 15 in one over, but he had the last laugh by scalping the Aussie captain.
MARK Yes, the Australians were playing far too many shots, and I think Langer and Ponting got out because they weren't looking for the incoming delivery, and hence weren't trying to defend.
THE LEMON Well, it's worked in the past for the Aussies. Let's look at the scorecard.

THE LEMON What do you foresee in the coming session?
DEANO Michael Clarke and Damien Martyn have been two of Australia's more successful players over the last few seasons. Martyn is a vital cog in Australia's batting wheel, and it'll be important that he sticks in for a long innings, if not a big one. I wouldn't put that much money on Clarke, however, he has looked out of touch for a bit, and generally doesn't prefer pitches that do too much!
MARK Yes. If New Zealand can just keep it straight, we may see even more wickets fall on this day. 13 wickets already, how many more to go?
THE LEMON Indeed, Mark, and you just stole my punch line! Well, how many wickets can fall? There's only one way to find out. We hope you enjoy the last session of play!

 

[surendar]

wow... Tit for Tat...Great start by Kiwis!!!

 

[Brett_Lee]

Nice presentation there Sohummisra!

 

[Bala]

Good work there Sohum!

 

[Cricket_60]

Great presentation mate