New Zealand in Australia Nov-Dec 2008 Feb 2009

[formula1man]

Actually if we lose to NZ it will be our 4th straight ODI home series loss

No its 2. we beat Bangladesh.
Clarke's not out 50's are 12 at a SR of 90. So when he's not out he's good.

We need to completely restart this team. Pick Ponting & Clarke and then pick 9 new players, except maybe Mike Hussey. The rest are hopeless.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Did they show the beer snakes on tv?. They were awesome last night. Especially that one towards the end of the game.

Nothing on the WACA one though.

The Kiwis were so annoying. Shouting out Haddin is a cheat the whole game. Then we'd start going Haddin is a legend and he was just watching and laughing. I remember when we got a wicket he looked over that the kiwis and just did the 'shhh' signal with his finger.

I got the autograph of J Patel. Fergy and Johnson snubbed us, but Fergy said something like he wasn't allowed to do them. He made some weird hand signals which seemed like he wasn't supposed to do them. Thought it was tight if true from the Aussie hierarchy.

 

[King Pietersen]

Bracken? Johnson? Haddin? Hardly useless. Doubt you'll find many better players in the Aussie domestic system than those 3. Especially Bracken, he's probably one of the best ODi bowlers in the world, if not the best. James Hopes has been very useful with the ball of late also. His figures today were very impressive.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Bracken? Johnson? Haddin? Hardly useless. Doubt you'll find many better players in the Aussie domestic system than those 3. Especially Bracken, he's probably one of the best ODi bowlers in the world, if not the best. James Hopes has been very useful with the ball of late also. His figures today were very impressive.

How could you drop them? BRacken bowled brilliantly today yet again. But he just couldn't get that crucial wicket. Johnson was a bit more expensive but was still good. Haddin is in a form slump at the moment, but his time will come. Hopes bowled brilliantly today as well.

Besides the fact that we lost, it was still an enjoyable game to watch.

Here are some pictures I took today.

???

???

Peter Fulton

Tim Southee

Tim Southee

Jeetan Patel

Callum Ferguson

Fielding Coach Mike Young

Streaker

 

[TheGreemSim]

I enjoyed seeing that game. I got very nervous with New Zealand batting so slowly throughout the innings however Neil Broom came in at the end and along with Elliott, helped us win.

 

[mattfb]

No its 2. we beat Bangladesh.
Clarke's not out 50's are 12 at a SR of 90. So when he's not out he's good.

We need to completely restart this team. Pick Ponting & Clarke and then pick 9 new players, except maybe Mike Hussey. The rest are hopeless.

Well, 4 straight home summer defeats.

Are you serious? Your considering dropping Hussey? He has been out of form but his last few innings have reminded us how good he is when in form. Bracken is the best One Day bowler in the world, Johnson is ok but not as good as Test cricket. Haddin and Hope are both essential. Haddin is a great batsmen and a very good keeper. Hopes is a tight bowler and can score very very quick.

If we would wipe everyone off the team list and start again my team would go with the same team we had today, except Punter come in for Dussey. The problem is where we bat everyone. Clarke's best position is 5, but he has only batted their 15 times. He is strong in the opening spot with 2 of his 3 hundreds their. A majority of his innings are at 6 and the next highest amount of innings are at 4. So as you can see he is versatile so we could probably pick the team around him seems he is an important part. 6 is probably a bit too low for him now a days. 4 is a good spot for him but he averages 59 I think it is at number 5.

But he showed today he is a good opener, but we need another reliable opener who can score quick which is Haddin or Hopes. We can be sure that Clarke can settle early while another batsmen tries to destroy the bowling. Ponting comes in at 3, then I would bring Fergo in at 4, Hussey at 5, Haddin or Hopes at 6, White at 7 and Warner at 8. That is risky but I would give it a go. Not sure how Warner at 8 would go, but I don't think we can rely on him enough up top and we need someone that can make a good start 7 or 8 times out of 10 so Clarke can play himself in. Fergo would be good at 4 because he isn't suited to hitting straight away.

Johnson, Hilfy and Bracken should be our main 3 pacers. The right arm swinger, left arm swinger and the left arm quick. Hopes makes the perfect balance with the accuracy and pressure. I think that is a very good bowling attack. A lot of variety and if we stick with the same attack for a while they should start to compliment each other. We can't keep changing the line-up if we want success.

 

[Harrypotter_fan]

Australia is 3rd right now according to the ratings. If New Zealand win 3-2 and India too win against Sri Lanka, India will be second. Aussies need to get some wins under their belt quickly or the gap will widen.

 

[aussie1st]

I am starting to have doubts on Haddin in this form. His batting not being good isn't helping but his keeping really has dropped off. Seems to fumble the ball a hell of a lot compared to other keepers. Probably has this series and maybe the SA one to find his grove or he could be out. Ronchi would be next in line even though his form has been crap his keeping seem to be better when he played for us in the T20i and he gives us that big hitter at 7 that we are missing. Could move to 8 with Hopes at 7 if we have a major collapse.

 

[sifter132]

Why does Clarke bat so slow?

Ask Brendon McCullum or Ross Taylor or Mike Hussey - these guys hardly lit up the MCG either.

The only guys to score well were Grant Elliott who played really well and Neil Broom who honestly looked like he was closing his eyes as he tried playing a pull shot to every ball that wasn't a yorker. The only impressive shot Broom hit was his last 4 over mid on, the one he'd been trying to hit for the last 15 balls. He would have looked like a tool had he been dismissed swinging hard like that earlier as NZ didn't need to take massive risks.

For those that said the Kiwis dominated clearly, I disagree. Call me green and gold eyed, but there was so many Kiwi shots just over infielders (Michael Clarke had about 3 just over him) or edges down to third man for four and inside edges off the middle stump going to fine leg for four. I've never seen so many hands on heads in frustration. NZ were never cruising in the run chase until the second last over, when Broom finally connected.


And it's almost time for Cameron White to be mothballed as far as I'm concerned. How does this guy get an all-rounder tag? He was clearly outbowled by Michael Clarke last night, Dave Hussey was a bit better too. Ponting and Clarke obviously have no confidence in his bowling as he always gets the ball after Clarke and often after Hussey - if at all. He hits the ball hard, but his highest score in 25 ODIs is 45! As far as I can see the only thing he does well is catch at first slip.

I'd bring in Hauritz for the next game and move Hopes and Johnson up to 7 and 8. We need some bowlers that we can rely on, rather than having Aussie fans watching the 10 Clarke/Hussey/White overs with fear and trepidation, praying the Kiwis don't smack them silly.

 

[aussie1st]

I would get Voges in there and Ferguson higher up the order, if we pick them in the squad we may as well see what they can do.

My side for Sunday, squad is the same so

Warner
Clarke
Ferguson
Hopes
Voges
Hussey
Haddin
Johnson
Bracken
Hilfenhaus
Tait

Could switch Hopes with Voges but he should get more time in the middle. Hussey back at 6 where he should be fresh for the death overs unlike yesterday where he had to bat for ages when he got to the death overs.

 

[Ari]

Here are some pictures I took today.

Not sure about the first one (maybe Southee?) but the second one is Brendon Diamanti.

 

[TaylorsBroom]

Ask Brendon McCullum or Ross Taylor or Mike Hussey - these guys hardly lit up the MCG either.

The only guys to score well were Grant Elliott who played really well and Neil Broom who honestly looked like he was closing his eyes as he tried playing a pull shot to every ball that wasn't a yorker. The only impressive shot Broom hit was his last 4 over mid on, the one he'd been trying to hit for the last 15 balls. He would have looked like a tool had he been dismissed swinging hard like that earlier as NZ didn't need to take massive risks.

For those that said the Kiwis dominated clearly, I disagree. Call me green and gold eyed, but there was so many Kiwi shots just over infielders (Michael Clarke had about 3 just over him) or edges down to third man for four and inside edges off the middle stump going to fine leg for four. I've never seen so many hands on heads in frustration. NZ were never cruising in the run chase until the second last over, when Broom finally connected.

Hahahahahaha. It was all luck. Clearly that was just another off day for Australia. Face up to facts. There is noone in that Australian side that scares anyone anymore. Broom was quoted over here during the week that he didnt see any Australian bowler that was much better than anything in the State Shield here. That shows me that this Kiwi side has no fear of the Aussies and why should they. This lot is average.

 

[Mr.Cricket]

Well done kiwis , full credit to them again. Its so frustrating to see us making the same mistakes game after game. ah well just hope we can do better in the next few games. I think we will be fine when we get some of our key players back (Symonds , Lee , Watson...etc) but we got some tough times ahead.

My team for Sunday

Clarke
Warner
Ferguson
Haddin
Voges
M.Hussey
D.Hussey
Hopes
Johnson
Bracken
Tait

Mr.Cricket added 4 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...

Team for the future (if everyone is fit)

Watson
Marsh
Ponting
Clarke
Symonds/D.Hussey
M.Hussey
Haddin
Hopes
Johnson
Lee / Hilfenhaus / Tait
Bracken

This team look pretty good on paper.

 

[irottev]

Another win yay! Bowling and fielding was again, top draw. We have the best bowling attack around with Oram in there, even without him top ranked guys Mills and Vettori did really well. O'Brien is quickly cementing his ODI spot after cementing his test spot. Good to see.

Our batting was shaky at times. McCullum and Taylor played reasonably slowly, they obviously took the responsibility to bat overs and time and did it well. They tried to accelerate later on but didn't quite come off. Elliot really was impressive. He showed a cool head and kept the board ricking and kept his wicket. Broom finished well. Considering we're without the usual good balance with Oram in there i'm chuffed we're 2/2. Never would have imagined.

Now we just need 1 from 3 to win the series. We HAVE to win the series. No way can we go down 3-2 after this start and let Australia out of jail. The job is not complete yet.

Clarke is getting criticized a lot. He deserves some of it, but he played a decent anchor role. The problem was he batted a lot with Hussey who does the same kind of role. There wasn't enough hitting around him. He didn't deserve MotM. He needs to accelerate more at the end.

Oh and about Warner. Don't say I didn't tell you so. I told you that under accurate bowling (like ours) he'll lose patience. He's probably got only 1 more chance really. Hughes would have to come in from all i've heard about him.

 

[aussie1st]

NZ have one of the better ODI bowling lineups around, if they added Bond and Oram it would be the best easily. Mills is number 4 in the world and Vettori just continues to tie teams down through the middle stages.

The only reason Hughes would be brought in would be for experience as his FRC performance hasn't been great. Hughes scoring shot in the shorter form is through the cut, so if NZ apply the same tactics they have done on Warner on him he too will struggle to score at a good rate.